Ghostbusters 3: Tournament of the Demons
by Charlie Wood24
Summary: When the original Ghostbusters disappear, a new team (led by Oscar Venkman) must come together to rescue them, protect New York, and save the world...even if most of the time they have no idea what they are doing. However, they also don't know that an all-powerful demon is already living in New York and posing as the city's mayor...a mayor who just happens to be Dr. Peter Venkman.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Christine pushed open the door to the kitchen with a sigh. It had been a long night: her waitress uniform was filthy, her blonde hair was frazzled, and the restaurant was still packed even though it was almost closing time.

"Josh," she said, putting her tray down near the kitchen's grill. "Can you please do your job so I don't get yelled at? The guy asked for no mushrooms."

Christine's brother, Josh, looked up from the grill. He was looking chubbier than ever, with his curly hair stuck underneath a hairnet and a pair of chunky headphones wrapped around his head. He was 21, two years younger than Christine, but he still looked about seventeen.

"The guy yelled at you?" Josh said. "And that's my fault how?"

"You made the burger."

Josh stared at Christine's lip a moment. "You know, as you get older, you're getting this weird little mustache. You should really get that looked at."

Christine turned away with a grumble and headed back towards the dining room. Near the door, the owner of the small, Long Island restaurant, Walt, was plating yet another order of a cheeseburger and fries.

"I swear," Walt said, "I've never seen a brother and sister who fight as much as you two. Christine, why don't you help Josh take the trash out to the barn? That way we can close up before midnight."

Christine turned around. "What? Walt, I don't want to go in there. It's creepy."

"I don't care if it's creepy. The faster he gets back in here, the faster we can all go home. So go ahead and help him."

"But Walt, I—"

Christine was suddenly interrupted by Josh shoving a heaping bag of trash into her arms.

"Here ya go," Josh said with a smile. "The extra smelly and heavy one."

A few seconds later, Christine followed Josh out the back door and toward the creaky, red barn behind the restaurant. While Josh easily carried his small bag of trash over his shoulder, Christine was struggling with her bulging bag, dragging it behind her with both hands.

"C'mon, let's pick up the pace, huh?" Josh said, turning around. "We don't have all night, you know."

Finally, Josh reached the barn and pushed open its giant, rotted door. Josh took the trash out to the barn nearly every night he worked, and every time he did, he was sure the ancient, dusty barn's door would fall off its hinges.

"Okay," Christine said, dropping her bag of trash. "Let's get out of here. This place is disgusting."

Josh began poking around the barn. The dark building was crammed with tables of cobwebbed knick-knacks, shelves of rusted antiques, and boxes of old, faded books.

"Hold on," Josh said. "I love looking at this stuff. It's so weird."

The wind picked up behind Christine. It howled high above her in the ceiling's wooden beams.

"Yeah, that's great, Josh. Let's go, I'm freezing."

Josh walked toward one of the barn's long walls. In the darkness, he could see it was plastered with old circus posters and advertisements for bizarre potions and homemade remedies.

"Don't be such a baby," Josh said, pointing. "Look, it's Walt."

Christine walked toward Josh. On the wall, there was a small, framed photograph. It appeared to be from the 1970's, and it showed a young boy who looked like Walt, sitting on a couch and reading a book with a white-haired, bearded man.

"Oh yeah, it must be," Christine said. "Who's that guy with him, his grandfather? That guy looks like a hundred years old."

"Yeah, I know. Whoa, check it out—old magazines."

Josh crouched next to a bookshelf, inspecting a collection of hundreds of tattered magazines.

"I don't think you should touch those, Josh. They look like collector's items or something."

Josh pulled one of the magazines out. "What, you think someone's gonna care? Maybe there are some old nudie mags in here. Holy crap, this one is from 1909." Josh read from the cover. "Tobin's Chronicle of Magic and Otherworldly Creatures."

With a shrug, Josh tossed the magazine away and looked through another one.

Christine turned around. As the wind whipped, the giant barn door behind her creaked back and forth and then closed. She shivered.

"C'mon, Josh. This is creepy and it's getting cold. Let's go."

"No, wait, wait, hold on. Look at this."

A banging came from the roof, as if someone was stomping on it with their foot. Christine looked up.

"Josh, we need to go help close up the restaurant. Come on."

Josh turned to her, laughing. "What, are you really scared right now? Wow, that is really sad." He held the magazine in his fingertips and did a little dance on his tippy-toes. "Oh no, look at me, I'm a magical creature! Woooooooooo!"

Josh opened the magazine and read from it loudly, standing in the middle of the barn with one of his arms outstretched.

"Valsidrahide!" he said in a strange language. "Malandrihide! Keenasovo! Krandoo!" He laughed and turned the page. "What is that, Yiddish or something?"

Across the barn, Christine looked down. She stared at Josh's hands. Her eyes went wide.

"Josh...? Josh."

"What?"

"Josh," she said again.

He looked up from the magazine, annoyed. "What?"

Christine pointed at Josh's hands. He looked down.

Yellow, sticky slime was oozing out of Josh's hands and dripping onto the floor in slithering streams.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Josh screamed. He tossed the magazine away and jumped back, in shock. As he held up his hands, the slime poured from his fingers like a faucet, falling to the floor and plopping into giant puddles.

"What is that?" Christine screamed. "What is that?"

"I don't know!" Josh yelled. "I don't know!" He spread apart his fingers. "Aaaaahhhhaaah! It burns!" He sniffed his hands. "And smells like shit!"

Panicking, Josh waved his hands around wildly, which resulted in him flinging slime all over the barn. A huge glob of it landed on Christine's cheek.

"Aaahhaaah!" she screamed. "Stop it, Josh! Stop!"

Turning away, Christine covered her face, and then looked toward the magazine on the floor.

"Oh my god," she said, her mouth dropped.

The magazine was lying on its back, wide open, with its pages quickly fluttering. As each page flew by, green smoke billowed from the spine of the magazine, filling the barn.

Christine heard a rattling to her right. She turned in its direction.

Five small wooden totems were sitting on a shelf nearby, each of them about eight inches tall. They all had agonized demon faces carved into them: one of them was a woman with purple hair; one of them was a creature with huge ears and green, bumpy skin; one of them was a woman with fangs and pointed ears; one of them was a yellow goblin dripping with slime; and one of them had a head that was a hollow-eyed skull. As the magazine fluttered and filled the barn with smoke, each totem shook violently on the shelf, as if they were ready to burst.

Josh noticed the totems, too. "Holy crap, what the hell's going on? We better get out of here, we better—"

_BOOM!_ With an explosion of blinding light, five howling spirits suddenly erupted from the wooden totems, flying up toward the ceiling. Each ghost looked like the totem it had burst from, and as the white, green, yellow, purple, and black ghosts screamed in anger, with their huge mouths dropped open, they began to fly around the barn and smash the rusted antiques and wooden shelves, sending any object in their way flying.

Christine and Josh looked up in shock. As they stood there, frozen, two of the spirits—the woman with purple hair and the green creature with massive ears—looked down and spotted the brother and sister. The two ghosts then screeched and flew downward, dive-bombing toward the floor. As Christine and Josh cringed, the two ghosts flew right into their bodies, disappearing in a bright flash of light.

Suddenly, the barn's door was kicked in and it smashed against the inside wall. Christine spun there, startled, to see a man in a brown jumpsuit standing in the doorway. Even though it was dark, she could see that he was around sixty years old and slightly heavy, with a gut sticking out from his jumpsuit. He was also wearing bizarre goggles on his eyes and a heavy black backpack, and holding two strange, pistol-like guns in his hands. The pistols were connected to the backpack by wires.

Without a word, the man stepped into the barn and pulled the triggers on his guns. Immediately, streams of yellow, blue, and orange energy screamed from the pistols' barrels, zapping up towards the ghosts. The energy streams exploded and burnt anything they touched, and as the man whipped his pistols back and forth, the streams were destroying nearly every antique, book, or statue in the barn.

Finally, the man got control of his energy beams and harnessed them toward the ghosts, which were now wildly swooping around the beams of the ceiling and trying to flee. Within seconds, the yellow goblin was caught in the streams, howling in agony as the energy wrapped around him like a lasso. Panicking, the yellow demon flung itself around the barn, while the other two ghosts used the opportunity to escape, soaring through the wall and leaving two puddles of slime behind them.

Stepping into the middle of the barn, the man in the brown jumpsuit concentrated even harder now, grunting and gritting his teeth. High above him, the yellow ghost was still caught in his beams, but at any moment it seemed like it might free itself from the snapping energy.

Dropping one of his pistols to his waist, the man reached to his belt and grabbed a strange, rectangular box that was hanging there. Crouching on one knee, the man flung the box into the middle of the barn, where it slid across the floor, coming to a stop directly underneath the harnessed ghost.

As Christine and Josh watched, stunned, the man then lifted his boot and stomped down on a pedal, which was attached to the black box by a tube. Immediately, the top of the box opened and a cone of blinding white light shot out from it, searing up towards the ghost. The yellow goblin screamed again, seeming to know what was about to happen, but in a matter of seconds, it was sucked down the cone of light and right into the black box. When the ghost was completely gone, the box's yellow-and-black top closed.

All was now quiet. It was completely dark, save for the blinking red light on the black box. Still without a word, the man walked across the barn with heavy footsteps and leaned down, picking up the box by its tube and inspecting it. The box was now smoking.

Christine and Josh were still huddled together on the floor.

"Who—who are you?" Christine asked.

The man turned their way, then took two steps toward them and flipped up his goggles, revealing his face.

"My name is Dr. Raymond Stantz," he said. "And you, I'm afraid, are in very big trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Mike Xander rolled over with a groan and looked out the window. Light was seeping into his bedroom, and through a slit in the curtains, he could see the New York City skyline outside. Usually, this would be a beautiful sight, but considering the night Mike had just had, the horrible, murderous sunlight instead just burned into his eyes and made his head pound even harder.

With his stomach churning, Mike lay back down. Surprisingly, he found a girl lying next to him. Her messy red hair was covering her face.

"Oh, hello," Mike said, confused. "Good morning…Stacey?" He moved her hair away. "Oh, Danielle. Morning, Danielle."

Mike stood up and put his pants on. "I thought Danielle hated me?" he whispered, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk.

Danielle woke from the commotion and shifted in bed, turning towards the window. With heavy eyes, she looked around the room, and realized where she was.

"Ugh," she said, flopping her head back down. Even though Mike was tall, funny, and good-looking, she wasn't happy to see where she had woken up. She had made this mistake with Mike way too many times, and couldn't believe she had once again been pulled into his charming-but-infuriating web. "Mike?" she grumbled. "What time is it?"

"Eight," he replied. "We gotta get to class. And I thought you hated me?"

Danielle held her head, her eyes closed. It was clear she suddenly hated herself even more than Mike. "I do. How much did I drink last night?"

Mike grinned. "Just enough to make a decision you normally never would, apparently."

A few feet away, in the kitchen of the New York City apartment, one of Mike's roommates—a young, dark-haired woman named Karanna Spengler—sat hunched over the table, wielding a small blowtorch and carefully working on a bizarre, rectangular contraption covered in wires and metallic coils. Karanna was nineteen years old, not much bigger than five feet tall, thin as a sheet of paper, and almost always wearing thick, black-rimmed glasses. She also almost never smiled, unless she had to, anyway, because an unfortunate, unwelcome social situation called for it.

Across the hall, a door opened, and Mike's other roommate—a brown-haired young man named Oscar Venkman—stepped out of his bedroom. Oscar was twenty-one years old, young-looking for his age, and very shy, which made his friendship with the outgoing, smooth-talking Mike a little strange—but that's what made it work, Oscar always thought, as Mike was often able to do the talking for the both of them.

"Hey, Karanna," Oscar said. "You still working on that thing?"

"Yeah, I'm just double-checking the Tesla coils before I hand it in to Professor Spengler today. They don't seem to be working properly."

"I thought Mike was supposed to work on those last night?"

Karanna shot Oscar a look, cocking her eyebrow.

"Oh, right," Oscar chuckled. He opened a cupboard above the fridge. "And Egon is your uncle, ya know. I don't think you have to call him Professor Spengler."

"It's better for the teacher-student relationship if it remains on those terms. Don't you call your step-dad Dr. Venkman when you're in the lab?"

"Uh, no. But that reminds me—I was working on the ESP experiment last night, and I think there is a connection between wrong answers and electric shocks."

"You do? When were you working on this? Last night?"

"Yeah. I couldn't really sleep, so I just stayed up and looked over the data."

Karanna stood and walked to Oscar, standing behind him as he poured a bowl of cereal.

"Insomnia is a very serious disorder, Oscar. You haven't been sleeping very much since we all moved in here. Do you think it's caused by nerves, maybe, from living away from home for the first time?"

"I'm fine, Karrie. Don't worry about me."

"Worry?"

Oscar turned around. Karanna was now wearing a metal helmet with blinking lights on her head, and also waving a wand-like device over Oscar's back. The wand was connected to the helmet with wires.

"Oh, right," Karanna said. "Worry."

Oscar had to laugh. Karanna wasn't concerned about him, of course—she was just using him for scientific purposes.

"Thanks for your concern, Karrie," Oscar chuckled. "I appreciate it."

"Hey," Mike said, as he walked into the kitchen. "You assholes missed an awesome party last night. I told you you shoulda come with me."

"I had work to do," Karanna replied. "Plus alcohol kills brain cells and weakens every major body function."

"That's great, Karrie." Mike turned to Oscar. "Oscar, why were you up so late last night? I thought maybe you couldn't sleep from all the noise I was making."

Mike began bouncing up and down on his toes, grinding his crotch in the air, and raising his arms up and down in front of him.

"Know what I'm saying?" he asked, smiling bigger than ever. "Know what I'm saying?"

"No, I don't," Oscar said with a laugh. "What is that? Were you churning butter?"

Mike stopped his bouncing. "No, man, with Danielle! You know! Come on!"

"Danielle?" Oscar asked. "I thought she hated you?"

Mike hopped up onto the counter. "I know, I did too, but I guess not no more. It was awesome, too—we came home, and she was like biting my ear, and then we went upstairs, and I'm not sure what happened next, but it was friggin' great."

"He puked."

Oscar, Karanna, and Mike turned to Mike's room. Danielle was standing in the doorway, holding her pocketbook in one hand and her shoes in the other.

"He puked on my shoes, he cried, and then he passed out. If any of you geeks tell anyone I was here last night, I'll kill you. Also, Mike, I stole a pair of your sneakers. Bye."

As Danielle walked out the door, Mike watched her go with a grin.

"Man," he said. "I love college."

An hour later, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna were sitting in their Advanced Paranormal Studies class at Columbia University in the center of New York City. Their professor, retired Ghostbuster Egon Spengler—now 65 years old, not quite as trim, and sporting a grey beard—stood at the front of the class near a projector screen. Onscreen, there was a tall, long-haired, sneering man in leather armor. The class knew this was Vigo the Carpathian, evil tyrant of the 16th century.

"So," Egon explained, "we soon discovered that the painting was no ordinary painting at all. But, what our data didn't tell us until later was that it was actually a case of...what?"

Egon turned to the class. A female student in the third row, a brunette named Jessica Johnson, raised her hand. Oscar, Mike, and Karanna knew her from class, but didn't know her much outside of school. She was short and very pretty, but also very quiet—Oscar always thought to himself that she clearly didn't know how attractive she was.

"Spirit-to-object paranormal alchemy?" Jessica offered.

"That's right, Jessica, very good. Somehow, Vigo was able to ensure that when he died, his spirit would enter this painting, and then he could use it as a doorway back to this world. I'm not sure how he did it, but...I'm still working on it."

The class chuckled. Mike looked at Jessica, then turned to Oscar.

"You should go out with her," Mike said. "She probably leaves the house even less than you."  
>Jessica raised her hand again. "Professor Spengler, what would happen if a being like Vigo ever entered our world again? Would we be in danger? Who would be able to take care of it?"<p>

Egon walked toward his podium. "Well, I wouldn't worry about that too much, Jessica. No new ghosts have entered our world in over fifteen years. Which is good for the world, but bad for science."

Another student, a young man named Dave, raised his hand.

"Is that why there's only one Ghostbuster now, Professor?"

"Yes, that's one reason, Dave. The other reason is that he won't retire, no matter how many times we ask him to."

Egon checked his watch, then walked back toward the screen.

"Time is almost up for today, class, but I wanted to make sure I mentioned someone else who was very much involved in our battle against Vigo."

Egon clicked a button on his remote, and the screen changed to show a picture of Oscar when he was a baby, about eight months old. He was chubby, blonde, and wearing yellow Winnie the Pooh pajamas.

"Your very own classmate, Oscar Venkman."

The girls in the class let out one big _Awwwww_!, while several of the male students laughed. Oscar slouched as far as he could into his seat, embarrassed.

"Oh, look at him!" Mike said in a high-pitched voice. He pinched Oscar's cheek. "He's so cute!"

"Thanks so much, Egon," Oscar said, smiling, but red-faced. "Thanks."

The bell rang.

"See you next time, class."

Fifteen minutes later, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna were in Egon's office. On Egon's desk sat the wire-and-coiled-covered, rectangular contraption Karanna had been working on back at the apartment. Jessica was also with the group, as Egon had invited her to join them, which Oscar was secretly very excited about.

"This is very impressive work, Karanna," Egon said, looking at one of the silver coils. "Very nice."

"I helped, too, Professor," Mike said. "Do I get the extra credit?"

"Of course, Mike. So do you, Karanna, though I don't see why you need it."

"I've written a proposal to the Dean to have two letter grades added above A."

Jessica inspected the machine. "A Tesla Converter. What does it do?"

"Well, that is what you are going to tell me," Egon replied. "For your internships, you, Oscar, and Karanna are going to see if you can figure out what it does without my help. I've been working on it for years, and now I want to see if you can reverse-engineer it to discover its function. Bring it by the firehouse later and we'll get started."

There was a knock at the door, so Egon turned to see his former Ghostbusting partner, Ray, standing outside.

"One moment, students," Egon said as he walked toward the door.

"So, even you guys don't know what it does?" Jessica asked Karanna.

"No, but I think it has to do with an alternative energy source," Karanna replied. "Or an artificial intelligence that's going to take over the world, I'm not sure."

In the hallway, Egon met Ray. Not surprisingly, Ray was very excited about something, with a huge smile across his face. He was practically jumping up and down on his toes he was so excited.

"Hi, Ray. One of my students was just asking about you."

"Egon, you're never gonna believe this!" Ray said, leaning forward, but with his hands behind his back. "Remember the old barn on Long Island? The one I was keeping an eye on 'cuz of all the weird noises at night?"

"Yes, behind the restaurant. What was it?"

"Well..." Ray looked down the hall, then pulled out a ghost trap from behind his back, holding it by its tube. "I just caught a free-floating, class five, slimer apparition in that sucker last night!"

Ray held the trap out toward Egon, who pushed it away from his face with a chuckle.

"That's great, Ray, that's great. Are you gonna drop it off in the containment unit?"

"Yeah, but there's something else, Egon! Something that will make your head explode like a Mentos truck crashing into a Diet Coke factory! Meet me at the fire station later today, okay? You won't believe it!"

Egon thought it over. "Okay, Ray, but I'm sure it's nothing to get worked up about. We both know that the link between this world and the Spirit World is nearly dead."

"I know, but Spengs, trust me on this. I know all my emergencies have turned out to be false alarms for the past...decade or so, but I really believe this is _big_! I need your help on this one!"

Egon held up his hand. "All right, I will, but don't get Winston involved. I don't want you two trying to get the band back together again."

Ray headed down the hallway. He turned around and waved.

"Don't worry, I won't!"

Not far from Egon's office, another former Ghostbuster, Winston Zeddemore, sat in his own office. Throughout most of the 90's, Winston had been CEO of the Ghostbusters corporation, but he had perhaps done his job too well—over a short period of time, the Ghostbusters had cleaned out nearly the entire country of its ghosts, and soon the Ghostbusters were no longer needed. Since then, Winston had found a new passion: teaching all that he had learned in his Ghostbusting days to eager students at Columbia University. At the moment, however, he was questioning his newfound love of being a professor.

"I'm sorry, Tom," Winston said, rubbing his forehead. "But I can't let you retake the test. You know I have very strict rules about being here on test day."

A blonde-haired, chubby student named Tom sat in front of Winston, rubbing his nose with his arm and wiping his tears. He had been crying for over twenty minutes.

"I know, Professor," Tom begged, "but I just need a second chance. I couldn't study because my grandmother was in a car accident, and the car that hit her was driven by my dad, and then he got hurt, and then I had to stay with my grandfather, because he's blind and...and..."

Tom fell forward, holding his face and sobbing. Winston simply watched him, miserable. Then, Ray popped his head into the office.

"Hey Winston, wanna go check out some ghost stuff?"

"Yes, please." Winston stood up and put on his coat. "Congratulations, Tom. You just got a C minus."

Tom looked up. "Really? Oh thank you, Professor! Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Ray and Winston headed out the door.

"No problem," Winston replied. "And for god sake's, stop crying, man. You look like a damn wuss."

As Winston and Ray walked through the campus and toward the street, Ray had just finished telling Winston about his experience at the barn.

"This is great, Ray!" Winston said. "This sounds like there's definitely something there. Are we gonna call Venkman to help out on this, too?

Ray grinned. "No, I think he's a little busy with other things right now, Z."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

In City Hall of New York City, the mayor of the most important metropolis in the world, Dr. Peter Venkman, sat in his office, with his feet up on his desk and a phone pressed to his ear. As usual, he was trying to talk somebody into something—a skill that came in very handy in his job as mayor.

"No, I don't care what you think," Peter said with a laugh. "I really don't, I'm sorry." He turned toward the window behind him, raising his voice. "Do you know who you are talking to, pal? Dr. Peter Venkman, Mayor of New York? The should-be capital of the United States? Perhaps you've heard of me? So, when it comes to this, what I say goes. I only want what is best for my people, and that is a day off tomorrow—a national holiday—for the entire United States of America to receive much-needed time to spend with their families."

Peter listened to the other person on the phone, then continued.

"Yes, tomorrow is also me and my wife's wedding anniversary. No, I didn't forget. And that has nothing to do with—"

Peter listened again. The other person on the line talked much longer this time. Peter's face dropped.

"Yes, I'm sorry," Peter said. "I know. I apologize again, Mr. President. Okay. I will. I know I shouldn't—I'm sorry. Tell Michelle I said hi. And Sasha, too. And Malia. Hello? Barry? Hello...?"

Like most of Peter's conversations as mayor, this one ended with a dial tone on the other end.

"Another important government phone call?"

Peter looked up. His wife, Dana, was standing in the doorway. She was 58 years old and somehow even more elegant and beautiful now that she was the first lady of New York City (and also one of the most charitable women in the country.)

Peter stood and walked to her, and they shared a kiss.

"Or are you finally making plans for our big day tomorrow?" she asked with a smile.

Peter waved her off. "Oh, don't you worry about that, honey. Being married to the most powerful man on the east coast has its privileges, you know. Really, I could just think of something at the last minute and we'd still have a wonderful day."

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"No! Forget? How could I ever forget our twentieth wedding anniversary?"

"Nineteenth."

"Nineteenth, nineteenth. You know, it just feels like we've been married forever."

"Tell me about it."

Peter walked to a mirror, adjusting his tie. "Did Oscar call you at the house by any chance this morning, by the way? He called here at seven o'clock, saying he just wanted to talk. I don't think he had been to sleep yet."

"I know," Dana said, crossing her arms. "He called me, too, right after that. I'm so worried about him, Peter. He's always been a little nervous, but he seems to be getting worse now since he moved out. I don't know what to do."

"You just have to let him get used to it. When I first moved out of my parents' house, I was the same way. Every sound I heard made me wanna jump out the window."

Suddenly, Peter's assistant, a young man named Jack Hardemeyer Jr., popped his head into the doorway.

"Mr. Mayor?"

"Aaaaaah!" Peter screamed, jumping back.

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Mayor. But your two o'clock meeting is here?"

"Thanks, Jack." Peter led Dana out of the office, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, c'mon, honey, this is gonna be so cool! Two authors are here who called me this morning—they wanna write a book about the Ghostbusters. Isn't that great? Finally, I'll get the credit that I deserve." Peter cleared his throat and corrected himself. "I mean, finally, we—all the Ghostbusters—will get the credit that we deserve."

At the end of the hallway, Peter and Dana reached City Hall's main conference room. Before she opened the door, Dana turned around.

"Maybe I'll just spend the night there tonight, they have an extra room. I'll just stay a couple nights until he feels safe."

Peter smiled and cocked his eyebrow. "His mother, sleeping over his house when he's twenty-one years old? I hope you're kidding."

Dana smiled back sadly. "Maybe. But not really."

Dana opened the door and they entered the conference room.

"Mr. Mayor," Jack said, waving his arm toward their guests, "this is Steve Townsend and Rebecca Smith."

Steve and Rebecca shook hands with Peter. They were both in their mid-thirties, with dark hair and glasses, and both dressed very plainly, in collared shirts and black pants. It was clear they were smart, bookish writers without much fashion sense.

"So these are the two visionaries who want to write about the Ghostbusters, huh?" Peter asked. "I like you guys already."

Peter turned to Dana.

"This is my wife Dana. She was possessed once, you know, and I saved her life. You don't have to put that in the book, but...probably should."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Venkman," Rebecca said, shaking her hand.

"We look forward to hearing about your possession," Steve added.

Dana shrugged and smiled. "Not my proudest moment, but I'll do my best to tell you what I remember."

The group sat at the conference room's table.

"So, what are your questions?" Peter said, plopping his hands down in front of him. "Ask away. I'm ready for anything."

Steve got to work, placing a recorder on the table and opening a notebook.

"Well, Mr. Mayor, what I'm most interested in is…" He thought it over. "During the 80's and most of the 90's, you and the other Ghostbusters caught ghosts. You actually went into people's houses and caught ghosts that were haunting them. That is pretty incredible."

"Paranormal investigations and eliminations," Peter replied, spelling out each word in the air, as if he was pointing to a sign. "Said it on our business cards and everything. I can get you one, if you want. I still have some."

Peter handed Steve a card from his wallet.

"Oh, wow, this is great," Steve replied. "I am a huge fan. Thank you."

"And your headquarters was right here in the city, right?" Rebecca asked. "An old firehouse?"

Peter nodded and smiled. He grew very nostalgic. "A magnificent building. Hallowed ground. An important New York City landmark, really."

In the Tribeca area of New York City, the Ghostbusters firehouse still sat, although it wasn't exactly being treated like an important city landmark: its giant, red, double doors were faded, chipped, and in desperate need of a new coat of paint, while the Ghostbusters sign featuring their "no-ghost" logo was missing. The only marker identifying it as the Ghostbusters headquarters was a small sheet of paper nailed underneath the door's windows: OUT OF BUSINESS. FOR INVESTIGATIONS, CALL DR. RAY STANTZ AT 555-4589.

Other than that, there was only the sight of the ever-present graffiti sprayed on the front cement wall: LIAR! FRAUD! MAYOR VENKMAN BURN IN HELL!

Inside the firehouse, on the second floor science lab where Ray, Egon, and Winston still conducted their many experiments, Christine and Josh sat nervously at a long table. The brother and sister were still shaken from their paranormal experience in the barn, and now things had gotten even weirder: they each now had suction cups and wires stuck to their temples, forehead, and wrists. Turning to her left, and careful not to dislodge the equipment stuck to her head, Christine saw something that shocked her: on a large monitor, there was an X-ray of her brain, showing all sorts of different colors and bizarre wavy lines.

"And then what happened?" Egon asked, inspecting one of the machines hooked up to Josh.

"That's when…" Josh replied. "That's when the smoke came from the magazine, and the...the...the..."

"Ghosts?" Winston asked.

"Yeah." Josh turned to Egon. "Am I gonna die? I kinda feel like I'm gonna die."

"No," Egon replied. "Not yet, anyway."

"Good, can I use your bathroom, then? 'Cuz either I'm gonna die or poop in my pants, I'm not sure."

Christine shook her head, embarrassed.

"Yeah, sure," Winston laughed. "It's right in there."

Pulling the suction cups from his head, Josh dashed toward the bathroom. Reaching underneath the table, Ray grabbed a box and handed Egon a stack of old, worn magazines from the barn.

"Here's the magazine, Egon. And all of these other ones were in there, too—all of them from the beginning of the 20th century."

Egon read through the magazines' covers. "Tobin's Spectre Analysis. An Interview with Jonathan Tobin. Investigator of 1911: Jonathan Tobin."

"Seeing a pattern here?" Ray asked.

"Uh, yeah," Winston said.

Christine turned to Ray. "Who's Jonathan Tobin?"

Ray opened one of the magazines and showed Christine a black and white photograph of a dark-haired, thin man with glasses.

"Back in the 1910's and 20's," Ray explained, "he was the guy who wrote all the first real guides on ghosts and spirits. He was the first person who took all this kind of stuff seriously. Ghosts, demons, monsters."

Ray walked to a bookshelf and searched for a book.

"He did paranormal research before most people even knew what paranormal research was. One of his books is where we get most of our information from."

Ray handed a book to Christine. Its title read: TOBIN'S SPIRIT GUIDE.

"He was my hero all through college," Egon said. "Ray's, too. He's practically the reason we became Ghostbusters."

"So, who owns this old barn, anyway?" Winston asked. "Do we know that?"

Christine nodded. "The same guy who owns the restaurant. Walt."

Ray picked up his phone from the table and showed Winston a photograph of Walt.

"Walt Rundersmith," Ray explained, his eyebrow cocked. "Turns out the guy is Jonathan Tobin's great-grandson. This Walter guy uses Tobin's old barn for storage space, but what he doesn't know is that his great grandpappy filled it with all of his research! Occult artifacts, spirit books, totems, really dangerous stuff!"

"Looks like we better get to that barn," Winston said. "And quick."

"Yes," Egon replied, "but there is something else I need to talk to you two about first. Something...technical." He turned to Christine. "Can you excuse us a minute?"

"Sure."

Egon, Winston, and Ray stepped toward a large metal filing cabinet in the corner.

"Did you two notice anything odd about Christine's brain patterns?" Egon asked.

"A couple things here and there," Winston replied, "but nothing that shook me up all that much."

"Did you give her a PKE scan today?"

"No, not yet," Ray replied.

Egon turned to Christine and waved a black PKE meter up and down in the air. The antennas on the side of the meter sprang up, sticking out straight, and the machine let out a loud _BEEP!_

"What's that?" Christine asked.

"Nothing to be worried about," Egon said. He turned back to Ray and Winston. "I am incredibly worried."

"Why would she be giving off a PKE reading?" Ray whispered. "She's not possessed."

"No, not yet," Egon replied. "And not in the traditional sense. But it looks like there is a dormant spirit presence inside of her, living like a parasite, feeding on her until it's ready to show itself."

"Eww," Winston said, curling his upper lip. "That's freaky."

"Yes," Egon replied. "And fascinating."

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Josh was standing over the sink, grabbing it with both hands and very sick. His face was completely white, and there were suddenly large grey circles underneath his eyes. His forehead was beaded with huge drops of sweat.

"Oh, man, what is wrong with me?" Josh said, his voice weak. "I feel like I'm gonna—"

Josh opened his mouth and began to dry-heave. He thought he was going to vomit, but, instead, yellow-and-white, sticky, fowl-smelling slime poured from his open mouth and into the sink, quickly piling up like sewage. When Josh looked up, he saw in the mirror that the sticky slime was also running out from his eyes and sliding down his face.

Downstairs, near the firehouse's exit, Egon, Ray, and Winston were putting on their jackets.

"Are we gonna take Ecto-1 to the restaurant, Egon?" Ray asked.

"No, I don't want too much attention on us. We'll take Winston's van, and when we get there, we'll—"

Suddenly, Josh screamed from the science lab's bathroom.

"Aaaaaaahhhhaaaaaaaaaahh!"

His horrified yell was soon followed by a loud thud.

Egon, Ray, Winston, and Christine looked at each other, startled, and then ran upstairs.

After flinging open the bathroom door, Egon looked down. The others stood behind him.

"What is it, Egon?" Winston asked. "What happened?"

"Is my brother okay?"

Lying on the floor in front of Egon was Josh. Except, he no longer looked like Josh—he had been transformed. His skin was now green and covered from head-to-toe in large, scaly bumps and purple blotches, and there were two long, twisted horns growing from the front of his head. He also had a forked tail like a demon, which was twitching on the ground next to him, and his arms were covered in thick, green fur.

"Ray," Egon said sternly. "Keep Christine behind you. And start the van. We need to get to that barn. Now."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

In the main conference room of City Hall, Peter was showing Steve and Rebecca photographs from his Ghostbusting days.

"Here's us after the Marshmallow Man thing," Peter said, pointing to a photo album. "Oh, and here's us helping put the Statue of Liberty back. That was fun."

Steve chuckled. "This is all very nice, Mr. Mayor, but what I'd really like to hear more about is your headquarters—the place you kept all the ghosts when they were caught?"

"Do you think we could maybe go there with you sometime?" Rebecca asked. "That would be great for the book."

"Yeah, I think we could do that," Peter replied. "How about tonight after work?"

"Maybe you should ask Egon and Ray about that first, Peter," Dana suggested.

Peter waved her off. "Ah, it'll be fine, I'll give them a call. Right now they're probably off with one of their little science experiments or something."

As Winston drove his van toward Long Island, Josh sat in the middle seat and looked at himself in the rear-view mirror.

"What the hell happened to me?" he asked, feeling the bumps on his now-green face with one hand and the twisting horns coming out of his head with the other.

Ray was sitting in the front with Winston. "Don't worry, Josh—you've just been cohabited by a class three possessive vapor, that's all."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Winston looked in the rear-view mirror. "You got possessed, kid."

Josh's eyes went wide. "What?"

Egon sat behind Josh and Christine in the rear of the van, taking notes.

"That's not technically true. You're only half-possessed, Josh. You're still in control of your body, you just...look different."

With a grin, Christine pointed at Josh.

"Ha ha," she said gleefully.

"I wouldn't get too excited, Christine," Ray explained. "You're half-possessed, too. Your spirit just hasn't shown itself yet."

Christine's face dropped.

"Ha ha," Josh said, pointing at her. "I wonder what you will—"

Suddenly, as Josh watched, Christine's long blonde hair slowly turned purple, starting from its roots and growing down to its tips. Josh stared at her, with his eyebrows raised.

"What?" she asked. She looked in the rear-view mirror, and saw her now-purple hair. Her eyes immediately popped open. From the backseat, Egon leaned forward and scanned her hair with a PKE meter.

"Dr. Zeddemore?" Christine asked. "Please drive faster."

Just as the sun was setting over New York City, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna walked down the sidewalk and toward the Ghostbusters firehouse, each of them carrying a corner of the heavy, awkward, wire-covered Tesla Converter box.

"Ow," Mike said with a grimace, his arms straining. "This thing is like digging into my groin. What is this stupid thing, anyway?"

"I thought you've been helping Karanna work on it?"

"Oh, right. The jagged groin-poker spikes were my idea."

Once inside the firehouse, the trio walked upstairs and set the Tesla Converter on the science lab table.

"Hello?" Oscar said. "Egon? Ray?" He turned to the others. "I don't think anybody's here."

"I gotta take a leak," Mike said, heading toward the science lab's bathroom.

"Where could they have gone?" Karanna asked. "I was just talking to Uncle Egon like twenty minutes ago."

"I don't know." Oscar looked around the room. The monitors, suction cups, and wires were still set up around the lab from Christine and Josh's inspection. "Look at all this equipment, Karrie. Why would all this stuff be out?"

"Uh, guys?" Mike said from the bathroom. "You better get in here."

Walking quickly toward the bathroom, Oscar and Karanna looked over Mike's shoulder. Inside the bathroom, they saw yellow, foul-smelling slime everywhere—it filled the sink and overflowed down its side, and there was also a giant puddle of it on the floor.

"Either someone has a serious problem and needs to go to the doctor's immediately," Mike said, "or that's ectoplasm."

"You're right," Karanna said excitedly, "it is ectoplasm."

Mike was very proud of himself. "Hey, I got one."

Leaning down, Karanna inspected the puddle of slime on the floor. "Wow, I've never seen it outside of a lab before. I've gotta bring some of this home, this is fantastic."

"Vivid dreams about Katy Perry, fantastic," Mike said. "The Giants winning the Super Bowl, fantastic. This, I'm not so sure I'd call fantastic."

Karanna retrieved a Petri dish from her pocket and scooped some of the slime into it.

Mike shook his head. "She keeps Petri dishes in her pockets. And I thought I was scared to go into your room before."

Once Karanna finished retrieving her sample, the three friends walked back into the firehouse science lab.

"Something weird is going on here, guys," Oscar said. "Egon not being here, all this equipment, the slime...what could have happened?"

A phone rang on a nearby table.

"Should we answer it?" Mike asked.

"No, wait," Karanna said.

After a few rings, the firehouse's answering machine picked up. The nasally voice of the Ghostbusters' secretary, Janine Melnitz, came from it.

"Hi, you've reached the Ghostbusters. We're pretty much out of business, but Ray asked me to record this, so whatever. If you wanna leave a message, someone might get back to you, I don't know. All I know is I'm going on a looooong vacation, and if anyone bothers me, they are dead."

After a _BEEP!_, Ray's voice came from the machine.

"Hey Peter, I just got your message about coming by the firehouse later with the authors you met, so I hope you get this in time. We currently have two possessed people with us in Winston's van, and we could really use your help. Meet us at Rundersmith's Tavern on Cherry Street on Long Island. Call me if you can. Bye." Oscar looked to Karanna, concerned and surprised.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know," she replied. "He sounds pretty worried. Maybe we can go try and help."

Mike held up his hands and shook his head. "Uh-uh, no way. You two are always looking for a reason to go play Ghostbusters. What could we do to help them?"

On the science lab table, Karanna found a photograph of Christine wearing the brain scan equipment.

"Hey, look, this must be one of the possessed people Ray was talking about."

Mike looked at the photograph.

"Let's go," Mike said, suddenly serious. "We may be the only ones who can help."

Oscar, Karanna, and Mike headed downstairs.

"Ray said she was possessed," Oscar said. "Are you really that desperate?"

"Hey, I dig chicks with issues."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

After opening the rotted door of the old barn behind Rundersmith's Tavern, Egon reached in and flicked on a light switch. All was quiet and seemed normal, but as soon as he stepped inside, the antennas on his PKE meter sprang up and the machine let out a long, sharp _BEEP!_

"556 on the PKE," Egon said, surprised.

Ray walked in behind Egon, holding another device, a black machine with a bulb on its top called a Geiger meter.

"2.1 GEV's on the Geiger meter!" Ray said. "I told you, Spengs! I told you!"

Christine turned to Winston. "He's excited. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Here's what I've learned," Winston explained. "When Ray's excited, that means something bad is gonna happen. And, when Egon is worried…"

Christine and Winston turned to Egon. He was worried.

"That means something scary as _hell_ is gonna happen," Winston finished.

In front of the group, Ray pulled his Ecto-Goggles down over his eyes and inspected the shed. Thanks to the goggles, he now saw the artifacts, books, and statues in the room glowing in various shades of red, green, and purple.

"Wow," Ray said, looking up and down the barn. "This place is like an L.A. strip club: everything is extremely hot and probably poisonous to the touch."

Nearby, Egon scanned a table full of cobwebbed clocks with his PKE meter.

"This isn't good, Ray. All of these questionable objects, so close together? It's like one big bomb, ready to go off." Egon pointed to a bookshelf. "Are these the other magazines, Josh?"

"Yeah," Josh said from the back of the group, afraid.

Egon and Ray knelt down and scanned the magazines with their meters. Ray opened one.

"Wow, look at these, Spengler! Real collector's items! I love this kind of stuff."

"I don't think you should touch those, Ray."

"Why not?"

Egon turned and pointed to Josh. Suddenly, Josh sneezed, and out from his nose blasted about six gallons of snot, which covered both Josh's hands and a nearby wooden cabinet.

Ray put the magazine down and wiped his hand on his shirt. "Oh. Good call."

Towards the back of the barn, Winston wore his Ecto-Goggles and looked for any clues. In front of him, he saw a trail of blue, glowing footsteps on the floor.

With his eyebrows raised, Winston followed the blue footsteps. They led to a small statue of a soldier near the rear wall of the barn. Through Winston's Ecto-Goggles, the soldier's rifle was also glowing bright blue.

Carefully, Winston reached forward and pulled down on the gun. Instantly, a piece of the floor in front of him slid open, revealing a set of stairs that led down into a hidden tunnel.

"Uh, fellas?" Winston said. "I think I found something."

Ten seconds later, the group was heading down the underground tunnel. Its walls and floor were simply dirt, and the only thing seemingly keeping the tunnel from caving in were wooden beams running along the ceiling. It was also completely dark, with the only light coming from Ray, Egon, and Winston's flashlights.

"Guys," Christine said nervously, "I'm glad you're helping us, I really am, but do you think we could go wait outside? Secret caves aren't something I'm really comfortable with."

"No way," Josh said to his sister, "you can go outside if you want, but I'm staying with these guys until I'm back to looking normal. I have a date tomorrow with a solid ten and I'm not gonna miss it."

Soon, the crew reached the end of the tunnel—there was a white, wooden door in the dirt wall, looking like a door in any ordinary house, and when Egon opened it, they found it led to an underground room. The space looked like a living room from a house in the late 1800's: it was lined with pink, flowery wallpaper, there was an ornate, blue-and-red carpet on the ground, and it was filled with shelves of bronze artifacts and ceramic keepsakes. There were even light bulbs in the room, which flickered as they hung from the ceiling, and a couple of faded couches that matched the design of the carpet.

Winston shot Josh a look. "You have a date with a solid ten?"

"Okay, six and a half," Josh admitted, "but that's really good for me, and I don't want to have to show up looking like—"

Standing in front of the others, Egon held up his hand, motioning for them to stop. He was wearing his Ecto-Goggles and staring straight ahead.

"What is it, Spengs?" Ray asked. "Any clue to what this place is?"

Through Egon's goggles, he could see writing on the far wall. It was scrawled in glowing, blue letters, and it read:

HELLO. DEATH IS HERE FOR YOU.

"Yes," Egon said. "And I think it's a trap."

The door to the room suddenly slammed shut.

After Peter opened the double-doors to the firehouse, he led Dana, Steve, and Rebecca into the first floor of the former Ghostbusters headquarters.

"This is it," Peter said, outstretching his arms. "The place where we would come to rest after ridding the streets of the beings that would do harm to the people of New York City." He turned to Steve. "Do you have a tape recorder or anything? Should I do that again?"

Steve laughed. "No, that's okay, Dr. Venkman. Could we possibly see some Ghostbusting equipment?"

"Yeah, sure, most of it is in the basement. Come on."

The group followed Peter towards the stairs that led to the basement.

"It must be great to be married to a real-life Ghostbuster, Mrs. Venkman," Rebecca said. "To be married to somebody so famous."

Dana looked ahead. Peter was standing at the rear of the firehouse and posing in front of a wall full of newspaper clippings, all of which featured him. He was pointing at the photographs of himself and grinning as Steve took a picture.

Dana turned back to Rebecca. "Oh, you have no idea."

At the bottom of the basement stairs, Peter flicked on a light switch. The firehouse's small basement was cluttered with tables full of Ghostbusting equipment, computers, tubes, wires, and shelves of old books. Of course, against the left wall, there was also the large, red, metallic ghost containment unit, which was built right into the cement structure of the firehouse.

Peter held his hand out toward a table of scattered equipment. "Here's some stuff, I guess it still works. These things here are called slime blowers, and this is..."

Peter picked up an object. It had two black handles on the bottom, and its top looked like a red, shiny egg-beater.

"I don't know what this is," Peter admitted. "Probably something cool, though."

With their backs to Peter and Dana, Steve and Rebecca stepped toward the containment unit, studying it.

Near the table, Peter found a PKE meter and excitedly picked it up.

"Oh, I know what this is!" he said. "You point it at things and—"

Peter turned around. He saw that Steve and Rebecca weren't paying any attention to him; they were simply staring at the containment unit.

"Uh, guys, over here? Look, a PKE meter."

Peter turned the meter on. Its antennas immediately sprang up, and it let out a loud, long _BEEP!_

"Huh, that's weird," Peter said. "That only happens if..."

Peter's eyes went wide. He looked to Dana. She had realized it, too—before Peter, of course—and she was urgently nodding her head toward Steve and Rebecca. Peter got the hint.

"Oh, it's just malfunctioning, I guess," he said, not doing a very good job of hiding it. "No big deal."

Peter put the PKE meter back on the table and picked up a pair of Ecto-Goggles. When he put them on, he looked toward Steve and Rebecca.

Through Peter's Ecto-Goggles, Steve and Rebecca were both glowing purple and red.

"Oh, shit-bag," Peter said to himself quietly.

Reaching to his right, Peter carefully grabbed a proton pack from a shelf and put it on. After powering it up, he pointed the proton gun at Steve and Rebecca.

"All right," Peter said, growing serious, "if you two could just step away from the containment unit and turn around, that would be great."

"That won't be necessary, Dr. Venkman."

Steve suddenly turned around and pointed at Peter. Shockingly, a blast of purple energy shot from his hand and blasted into Peter, knocking him to the floor.

"Peter!" Dana yelled, stepping toward her husband.

Rebecca grinned. "And that's enough from you, too, Dana."

Rebecca held out her hand, and a searing, electric, red burst of energy barreled into Dana. She let out a scream and fell to the ground, unconscious.

With Peter and Dana out of commission, Steve and Rebecca walked closer to the containment unit. Steve looked it over, his eyes narrowed.

"The stories were true," he said. "They have a prison."

Behind Rundersmith's Tavern, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna sat in Oscar's car. The area was quiet, and the parking lot was empty. Both the restaurant and the barn were completely dark.

"I don't know, guys," Mike said. "This place looks pretty deserted to me."

"The restaurant must be closed on Mondays," Karanna guessed.

Oscar pointed ahead. "There's Winston's van right there. Maybe they're in that barn?"

"Why would they be in the barn?" Mike asked. "Why would they come all the way here just to—"

A booming, thunderous voice suddenly sounded from the barn, erupting in the night and shaking the walls of Oscar's car.

"Now...meet...your..._Hell!_" it shouted.

Oscar, Mike, and Karanna stared at the barn.

"You know," Mike said after a moment. "Something tells me they might be in the barn."

Inside the bizarre room at the end of the underground tunnel, Egon, Ray, Winston, Josh, and Christine desperately looked for a way out. The flowery walls were shaking around them, and it sounded like there was an earthquake brewing under their feet.

"Now meet your Hell!" the voice bellowed again, so loud it echoed in the groups' ears.

"Yeah, you said that already!" Winston yelled over the noise of the earthquake. "Man, this is one repetitive ghost."

Egon was bashing his shoulder into the locked door they had entered from. "Everyone help me with this door, it must be our only way out of here. Hurry!"

At the rear of the room, Ray looked up. His face was lit with bright, red light from the ceiling. Slowly, the shaking of the walls and the earthquake stopped.

"Egon?" Ray said, his eyes wide. "Z? We're not alone."

Egon and Winston turned around. A woman in a red wedding dress was now floating above Ray. She was around twenty-five years old and stunningly beautiful, with green eyes, a red vale over her face, and hair so blonde it was nearly white. Her wedding dress was fit for a princess in a fairy-tale—elegant, extravagant, and with a long train that fluttered in the air.

Josh and Christine stared up at the woman.

"You guys know this sexy floating chick?" Josh asked.

"No," Egon replied.

Ray approached the woman.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Raymond Stantz of the Ghostbusters. We are here to investigate and classify any paranormal or supernatural activity and will assist you in any—"

"I know who you are, Ray," the woman said.

Ray turned to the others, then looked back to the woman. "You do?"

"Yes. We are new to this world, but we have learned of you and your friends. I am here to bring your eternal suffering."

A silence passed.

"Are you talking to us, too?" Josh asked, stepping forward. "'Cuz we don't even really know these guys, we just met them, so it'd be cool if me and my sister could head out and miss the suffering part?"

The woman red in suddenly raised her arms and let out an ear-splitting howl. Within seconds, a floating doorway materialized out of thin air, appearing in front of her. It was rectangular shaped, over six feet tall, and glowing with a purple and yellow light. In its frame there appeared to be a gateway to another world: a swirling, barren abyss, with purple and black skies filled with electric storms.

"We know of you on the other world," the woman in red said. "We know of your crimes. And you will not be allowed to commit them anymore."

With that warning, the doorway began sucking everything in the room into it. The violent, hurricane-force wind pulled any object in its path off the floor: the couches, the carpet, the side tables, the shelves…and, of course, the Ghostbusters, Josh, and Christine.

"Hold on to something!" Ray shouted over the deafening noise. "Everyone hold on!"

Diving forward, Josh and Christine grabbed onto one of the couches, their hair being whipped around their heads while the wind painfully battering their faces. Josh had to duck when one of the room's tall lamps whizzed over his head and disappeared into the floating doorway. Every object in the room was quickly being ripped into the other world, erupting with a flash as they struck the Spirit Door.

"The boy and girl have nothing to fear," the woman in red said. "We only want you."

Suddenly, the wind changed—it now only focused on Ray, Egon, and Winston. Harder than ever, they were pulled across the room toward the swirling gateway. The three men could not even control their bodies, with their legs being whipped out from underneath them, causing them to crash painfully to the ground.

"Fight it, guys!" Winston said, clawing at the floor and trying to pull himself away. "Fight it! Hold on!"

Then, with a bang, the door from the tunnel was smashed in, and Oscar, Karanna and Mike ran into the underground room, just in time to see the chaos.

"Whoa," Oscar said, his jaw dropped.

"Oh my god," Karanna said quietly.

Winston finally grabbed hold of a wooden railing on the wall, but it was soon ripped away by the wind, and he tumbled through the air until he smashed into the doorway. Instantly, he disappeared, his scream cut off mid-way by the flash of light.

Nearby, Egon was lying on the floor, frantically reaching for anything in his way to slow himself down as he was dragged toward the door. Turning around, he looked toward his niece.

"Karanna!" he shouted. "You need to get to one of our packs! We have to do something or we will be—"

But, the pull was too much, and Egon was whisked away into the spirit doorway.

"Egon!" Karanna screamed.

Trying to focus, Oscar looked toward Ray. He, too, was being dragged harder toward the floating gateway. Oscar ran to him and grabbed him by his arms, pulling him backward just as he was lifted off the floor. His feet were now only inches away from the spirit door.

"She's sucking us into the Spirit Dimension, Oscar!" Ray yelled, his legs sticking out straight toward the door, with all of the wind in the room focused on ripping him away from Oscar. "Listen to me—the project Karanna has been working on! You can use it to open a spirit door!"

"What?" Karanna shouted. "How? We don't even know how it works!"

"You need to find a way!" Ray yelled. "To open a door, you need to—"

But, the wind gusted, and Oscar lost his grip, sending the last Ghostbuster flying into the spirit door. When Ray was gone, into the gateway with a flash of light, agonized wails of human suffering and torture filled the room…and then the door closed. With that, just as quickly as she appeared, the woman in red dissipated into thin air.

All was quiet now. Oscar, Karanna, Mike, Josh, and Christine stared straight ahead where the door used to be, stunned.

Finally, Mike broke the silence.

"What the hell was that?"

He turned to the green-skinned, purple-blotched monster to his left.

"Hey, man, what's goin' on," Josh said casually.

"What the hell are you?" Mike yelled, even louder.

Karanna turned to Oscar. "What do we do now, Oscar? What are we gonna do?"

Oscar stared straight ahead. "Peter's the only Ghostbuster left. We need to find my step-dad."

In the basement of the Ghostbusters firehouse, Peter and Dana were stuck against the wall, nearly paralyzed, with their hands and ankles bound by red and purple energy that pinned them in place.

"Oh, you are in big trouble, boy!" Peter said, struggling to free his arm. "Just wait until my friends get here! Ray and Winston are gonna rip you apart, and Egon? Egon is gonna bore you until you wish you were still dead!"

In front of Peter, Steve glowed with purple energy and floated three inches above the ground. His eyes were now white and lifeless, and faint wisps of smoke were rising from all over his body. His legs dangled freely in the air as he spoke.

"Your friends will do nothing, Dr. Venkman. They are no longer here to stop me. Now, all of our dreams can come true. All of my premonitions will be fulfilled."

Rebecca floated down the stairs from the first floor. She was also now glowing with a red energy, with lifeless eyes and smoke rising off of her.

"I just received word, Master. All of the Ghostbusters have been eliminated."

"Oh yeah?" Peter said. "What about me?"

Rebecca looked at Peter, and then back at Steve.

"All of the smart Ghostbusters have been eliminated," she corrected herself.

"Hey!" Peter shouted.

"All right," Dana said, trying to keep her voice down. "Hold on. Everyone just calm down a moment." She looked to Peter. "Can a ghost calm down?"

"I guess so."

"Okay, then, let's calm down. Rebecca, what do you mean, eliminated? Where are our friends?"

Steve answered her. "Their sentence has all ready been carried out, Ms. Venkman. They are now in their own personal Hell. But don't worry—you'll be joining them there shortly."

"Oh yeah?" Peter replied. "I've been to worse places. Have you ever sat in the bleachers in Fenway Park for a Yankees game? Now that's hell."

Steve turned to Peter and pointed at him. Immediately, a patch of purple smile covered Peter's mouth. He tried to talk through it, but all that came out was a muffled yell.

"You need to stop talking your nonsense, Dr. Venkman. A voice with that much power can be put to such better use."

With a smile, Steve floated over to Peter and reached out with his hand, touching Peter's forehead. Slowly, Steve transformed—with a ripple of light, he morphed into a twisted, demented version of Peter, with red, glowing eyes, wild hair, and the same wisps of smoke rising off his floating body. He was even wearing the same suit as Peter.

"Oh my god," Dana said, stunned by the transformation.

"Oh, that feels so much better!" Steve said, now using Peter's voice. He even seemed to have taken on some of Peter's personality. "You see, Ms. Venkman, now that I'm free from the afterlife, I can do whatever I want. But, with your little Ghostbusters here, that made my options a little...limited. However, with them gone? Well, that opens up a whole world of possibilities. See how that's wrapped up in a neat little bow?"

"Look," Dana said, "whoever you are, we can sort this out. I know how you feel, I was once—"

"What?" Evil Peter shouted, suddenly angry. "What? You were possessed once, so you know how I feel? Is that what you were going to say?"

Dana shrugged. "Um, yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

Impatient, Evil Peter turned to Rebecca and snapped his fingers. "Come on, let's finish this job and get out of here. We've got work to do."

Grinning, Rebecca floated over to Dana and touched her forehead. Within seconds, she transformed into a terrifying, evil version of Dana, with glowing eyes, long fingernails, hair that seemed to move on its own, and a body that was covered in glowing smoke.

"Ooooooooh, this feels _so_ good!" Rebecca said, now using Dana's voice as her feet landed on the ground. She ran her hands over her new body. "She is sooooooo beautiful."

Evil Peter checked her out, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're telling me," he said with a grin.

Evil Peter and Evil Dana then embraced, making out passionately, with their hands all over each other and their tongues darting in and out of each other's mouths. At one point, Evil Dana even licked Evil Peter's face.

"Ugh," Dana said from the wall, frowning. "This is just gross."

Next to her, Peter shrugged and watched them make out, kind of enjoying it.

Finally, Evil Peter and Evil Dana parted and ended their make-out session.

"Now, Ms. Venkman," Evil Peter said, turning to Dana and wiping his face. "You asked me earlier where your friends are?"

Smiling, he extended a finger and traced a rectangle in the air. As he did, a spirit doorway formed, floating in front of him—it was identical to the door that the woman in red had just created in the barn.

Evil Peter held out his an arm and motioned toward the Spirit Door with a smile.

"See for yourself."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

After driving from Long Island back to Manhattan, Oscar, Karanna, Mike, Christine, and Josh opened the door and walked into the Ghostbusters firehouse, all of them still unable to think straight.

"Hello?" Oscar called out. "Anybody here?"

"No one's here, Oscar," Mike said. "Remember? We just saw them get sucked into a swirling doorway of death?"

"I know, but my step-dad's not answering his phone, I thought he might be here, I don't know. I'm kind of freaking out right now."

"You're freaking out?" Josh shouted, his tail wagging behind him. "In the span of twenty-four hours, my life has turned into pretty much the shittiest life ever! What the hell is going on here? Can someone please explain this to me?"

"I already told you," Karanna said. "We were just witness to and almost a part of an inter-dimensional cross-rip on the scale of the Tunguska Blast of 1909."

Mike turned to Karanna. "Nobody knows what that means. Okay, listen, everyone—we need to get our thoughts together here. Oscar, you run home and tell your step-dad what happened."

Oscar nodded and headed for the door. "Got it."

"Karrie, you get working on that thing Ray was talking about. The Tesla whatever whatever."

Karanna snapped her fingers. "The Tesla Converter, of course."

As she dashed upstairs, Mike turned to the blotchy, green-skinned Josh.

"You...you just stand over there and try to be not disgusting."

Josh stepped back and gave Mike a thumbs up. "You got it."

Finally, Mike turned to Christine. He extended his hand.

"And you...need to tell me your name. Hi, I'm Mike. And I love that hair of yours."  
>Mike reached out and touched Christine's purple hair. She batted his hand away.<p>

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," Mike replied. "That color is really doing something for me."

Frustrated, Christine turned around and headed for the stairs.

"I'm gonna go see if the only one here with a brain needs help getting us out of this mess."

Mike ran to the stairs and called after her. "I'm sorry," he said, "this is how I act when I'm terrified! You'll learn that about me!"

In Peter and Dana Venkman's New York City apartment, Oscar sat at the kitchen table across from his step-dad and mom. However, what Oscar didn't know was that he was actually sitting across from Steve Townsend and Rebecca Smith. The reason he didn't know this was because they had shed all of their demonic characteristics; they now simply looked, talked, and acted like Peter and Dana Venkman.

"Wow, that is something, Oscar," Evil Peter said, rubbing his chin and leaning forward. "That is really something else."

"So what can we do, Pete?" Oscar asked. "How can we get them back from wherever they went?"

Evil Dana turned to him. "Well, let's first take a deep breath about this, Oscar. Maybe you didn't see what you thought you saw."

Oscar shot her a look. "Mom, I know what I saw—they were sucked into a...a gateway or something. And there was this woman there, floating in the air. We need to figure this out!"

Evil Peter stood up, nodding. "Okay, Oscar, here's what we'll do. You head back to the fire station. Spend the night there, see if you can get that machine of Karanna's working. I have a lot of meetings tomorrow, but I'll cancel what I can and get to the firehouse as soon as possible. How's that sound?"

Oscar stood, thinking it over. "Uh, good, I guess. But you're sure you don't wanna come help us right now?"

"No, I'll see what I can figure out from here. Let's just fix this mess and get our friends back, huh? God, I'm worried about them."

Evil Peter not-so-subtly pushed Oscar toward the door.

"Are you guys feeling all right?" Oscar said, turning around. "You're both acting a little...weird."

"What do you mean?"

Oscar motioned toward his mom. She was standing at the counter and staring at the microwave, stroking it with a seductive smile across her face.

Evil Peter quickly opened the door and pushed Oscar into the hallway.

"Oh, we're fine," Evil Peter said. "Let me know what you find out, 'kay?"

Evil Peter slammed the door. As he walked toward Evil Dana, they reverted to their demonic forms, with red eyes, wild hair, and smoke drifting off their bodies.

"Snap out of it," Evil Peter said, shaking Evil Dana's shoulders. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry," she replied with an embarrassed shrug.

Stepping toward a window, Evil Peter looked down and watched Oscar walk down the sidewalk.

"What are we going to do now, Master?" Evil Dana asked. "The young ones saw what the Red Bride did. They saw what happened."

Evil Peter shook his head. "They might have seen it, but they ain't no Ghostbusters, that's for sure. They'll never be able to figure this out, or how to open a spirit gateway. We, however, need to get started if this place is going to be ready for the first battle. Do we have everything we need?"

Evil Peter turned to Evil Dana. She was standing by the microwave again, giggling and looking at the floor as if she was a shy high schooler talking to the star quarterback.

"This thing is so flirty!" she said, turning and pointing at the microwave.

Evil Peter shook his head. "I gotta get some new minions."

Two days later, a group of students were gathered around Prof. Egon Spengler's classroom at Columbia University. One of Egon's best students—Oscar, Mike, and Karanna's classmate, Jessica Johnson—walked up to the door and read a piece of paper taped to its front.

PROF. SPENGLER'S CLASSES ARE CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

Confused, Jessica looked over the note, then saw Mike walking down the hallway. He was carrying a box of paranormal research equipment from Egon's office.

"Mike?" Jessica said. She caught up with him. "Hey, Mike."

He turned around. "Oh, hey, Jessica. What's going on?"

"Not much, but I haven't seen you and Oscar and Karanna in classes the last few days. Where have you been?"

Mike thought it over. "Oh, we're just, uh, busy. Doing...stuff."

Jessica eyeballed the equipment.

"Isn't that from Professor Spengler's office? What are you doing with it?"

Mike looked at her. "Look, you're really smart, right? And you're into all this paranormal stuff like Karanna and Oscar?"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

Mike nodded toward the exit. "Come with me. Maybe you can help."

In the Ghostbusters firehouse, Karanna sat in the second floor science lab at a long, black table. She was wearing a welder's mask and using a small, precision blowtorch to carefully solder yet another metallic coil to the side of the Tesla Converter.

"Almost," she said to herself. "Almost…"

But then, sparks erupted from the coil, and the Tesla Converter caught fire.

"Damn it!" she said. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and pointed it at the Tesla Converter, covering it with white foam. Finally, after a few seconds, the fire was out, but there was now a large cloud of grey smoke hovering over the lab.

Christine sat nearby. "I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen?"

Karanna shook her head. "No. I can't even get this thing powered on anymore. I don't know what I'm missing here."

Josh sat at a table in the corner, messily eating a cheeseburger. In front of him, there were seven more cheeseburgers and three boxes of fries.

"That's all well and good," he said, his mouth full. "Good luck with that, but can we please focus a little more on this guy?" He pointed at himself. "'Cuz I'm feeling really weird and I haven't stopped eating for like two days straight."

Christine turned to him. "And that's different how?"

Josh mocked her, speaking in a high-pitched tone and frowning. "And that's different how?"

Nearby, Oscar sat at a desk next to the wall, wearing white gloves and carefully inspecting the old magazines from the barn.

"Well, I think I might be able to help you with that, Josh."

Josh walked over to him, and Oscar picked up one of the magazines, placing it on the desk. It showed a sketched pencil drawing of a woman in a red wedding dress.

"Hey, that's the chick from the underground tunnel," Josh said.

Oscar walked to a laptop and began typing.

"Yes, it is, and she's known as the Red Bride. Or, at least she used to be, back in 1889. She was a member of a cult led by a man named Breygron the Watcher. He was a scientist and little-known author who was obsessed with creating something he called 'The Tournament of the Demons.'"

Oscar typed on the keyboard and brought up a sepia-toned, faded picture of a man from the late 1800's. The man was dressed in a nice suit and looked exactly like Steve Townsend.

"This tournament was some kind of battle or contest between the world's most powerful demons, with the end result being the winner of the tournament receiving the world of Earth to do with as they pleased. This would then, of course, bring about...the Armageddon."

Josh raised his eyebrows.

"That's great, Oscar," he said quietly. "Thanks for sharing."

Christine covered her face with her hands. "This is all way over my head. I'm gonna go cry somewhere."

Oscar closed the laptop. "Join the club."

From the stairs, Mike entered with Jessica. He was still carrying the box of equipment from Egon's office.

"Hey guys, I brought a friend. She wants to help and she's a super-nerd like Karanna."

Jessica sat at the long black table and eagerly inspected the Tesla Converter.

"Wow, a door to the Spirit World, Karrie! This is so exciting! I mean, sorry about your uncle maybe being dead and everything, but...this is very exciting!"

Karanna smiled in agreement. "I know."

Mike walked to Christine and stood behind her. "So, Osco, you figure out how to get the ghost out of this beautiful body over here?"

Christine rolled her eyes.

"No," Oscar replied, "but I've been working on it, and I think—"

A phone rang from the first floor.

"What's that?" Josh said, looking around.

"It's the phone," Karrie replied. "Downstairs."

The group headed to the first floor and stood around the former receptionist's desk of the Ghostbusters. A red phone on the desk was ringing, and its light was blinking.

Jessica looked to the others. "What do we do?"

Oscar shrugged. After the phone rang a few more times, Jessica leaned down and answered it.

"Hello? Um, not really, I am….oh my god, really? Wow. Really? Okay, wow, I don't…um, yeah, I guess. I'm not sure. We'll...yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yes. We will. Bye."

Jessica hung up.

"Who was that?" Mike asked.

Jessica looked to them. "The Sedgewick Hotel. They have a ghost."

"They do?" Karanna asked.

"What do they want?" Mike said.

"They want someone to come and take care of it," Jessica replied. "It's trashing the place and scaring everyone to death. There's a wedding going on. I could hear screaming in the background and everything."

"You heard screaming?" Oscar asked.

"Yeah."

A moment passed.

"So, what do we do, guys?" Oscar said, looking to the group.

"We hope it goes away," Mike replied. "The end."

Thinking, Oscar walked to a series of lockers against the wall. He opened one, and inside there was a proton pack and a jumpsuit hanging on a hook. He turned to the others.

"I don't know," he said. "What do you think?"

Karanna smiled. "I have always wanted to try this stuff."

Mike stepped forward. "Yeah, operative word 'try,' Karrie. We don't know how to use this stuff! We could get killed! And I don't wanna get myself killed!"

"Look," Oscar said. "My step-dad isn't around to take care of it. I've been trying to call him all day, but he doesn't answer. Who else can take care of it?"

Christine thought it over. "Ya know…I think he's right. You two must have some kind of idea about how to use that stuff, right?"

"I've seen them use it once or twice," Oscar replied. "But I've never done it myself."

Christine shook her head. "Well, if you guys are gonna figure out what is wrong with us and get your friends back, you're gonna havta do something."

"But what, exactly?" Karanna asked. "And how would we get all this stuff to the Sedgewick Hotel?"

Mike looked toward the firehouse's exit. In the building's wide, garage-like entryway, there was a large object covered by a blue tarp. When he walked over to the tarp and ripped it off, Mike revealed Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' modified ambulance-hearse emergency vehicle.

Oscar looked at the vehicle with a smile.

"Oh, hell yeah."

And with that, Oscar, Mike and Karanna were off to the Sedgewick Hotel, with Ecto-1's lights flashing and its siren blaring.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ten minutes later, Oscar, Karanna and Mike walked into the crowded lobby of the Sedgewick Hotel. The three friends were now fully dressed in Ghostbusters gear: brown, mechanic-like jumpsuits; grey elbow pads; black boots; belts filled with keys and paranormal equipment; black gloves; Ecto-Goggles, which rested above their foreheads; and, of course, extremely heavy Proton Packs strapped to their backs.

The hundreds of frightened hotel guests—many of whom were dressed in their best suits and dresses for the wedding—turned to Oscar, Mike, and Karanna, confused. A moment passed.

"Hey," Mike yelled. "Anybody see a ghost?"

A gorgeous, blonde, female wedding guest in her mid-twenties walked by, dressed in a skin-tight, black dress. Mike and Oscar watched her, with smiles across their faces, until Karanna reached up and smacked Mike across the back of his head.

The manager of the hotel—a balding man in his mid-forties named Daniel Grey—approached them in a panic.

"Oh, thank god you're here!"

"Yeah," Mike replied, his hands on his belt. "What's up, what do you got?"

"We have a—" The manager looked them over. "Wait a second. Is this some kind of joke or something?"

"No, sir," Oscar replied, looking around the lobby. "We're the Ghostbusters. Kind of."

"Kind of?" the manager replied. "How old are you? Do you know what you are doing?"

Mike scoffed at the man. "Do we know what we're doing?"

Mike removed his PKE meter from his belt and held it up, showing it to the manager. Only problem was, it was upside down. Karanna took the PKE meter from Mike, turned it right side up, and handed it back to him.

Mike looked at the meter, but then ignored his mistake. "Just point us toward the ghost, man."

Two minutes later, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna exited an elevator and stepped onto the hotel's twelfth floor.

"Okay," Oscar said, turning to the others, with no idea what to do and suddenly very aware that he was wearing a nuclear accelerator. "I guess we should split up. I don't know, look for this thing. Right?"

"Makes sense to me," Karanna replied.

Mike looked at the nametag on Oscar's jumpsuit. It read VENKMAN, while Karanna's read SPENGLER. The nametag on Mike's jumpsuit was blank.

"Hey, you guys get suits with your names on it. That's not fair. Just 'cuz you're related."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Oscar said. "Karanna, you stay here on the twelfth floor."

"Okay."

Mike inspected the blank spot on his uniform. "Anyone got a sharpie or anything?" he said under his breath.

Oscar turned to him. "Mike, you check out the kitchen. I'll go downstairs and check the banquet room. Those are the spots that have seen the most activity. Okay?"

"Okay," Mike replied, "but let's make a deal. If any of us kills anyone, we all get in a car and head to Mexico and this never happened. Deal?"

"These actually can't hurt humans," Karanna replied. "I don't think."

Karanna lifted her proton gun and looked at its underside. Accidentally, she pressed its trigger, and instantly a stream of swirling, zapping proton energy fired across the hallway. It hit a bronze statue of a topless woman, which exploded in a hail of yellow, orange, and blue sparks, before melting and falling over.

A moment passed.

"Great," Mike said. "I'll see you guys in the Emergency Room in a little bit. See you then."

After watching Mike and Oscar get back into the elevator, Karanna was suddenly alone on the twelfth floor. Nervous, she took a deep breath and got to work, turning on her PKE meter as she walked down the hotel hallway. Because of all the night's activity with the frightening ghost, the hotel was eerily silent: all of the guests were either gathered in the lobby, locked in their rooms, or checked into another hotel across the street. As Karanna inspected the hall, slowly waving her PKE meter over any objects she came across, the only noises she could hear were people looking through their peepholes and whispering to each other about the bizarre young woman in the jumpsuit and backpack strolling through the hotel.

However, it didn't take long for Karanna to come across a room whose door was wide open. This door didn't close when she came near, and, in fact, the lights in the room were on, and music was softly playing inside. As she came nearer to the door, Karanna stepped slowly, growing more nervous, and then peered inside.

There was a man in the room, dressed in an incredibly sharp tuxedo. He stood at a small bar in the room, pouring himself a drink of whisky. The music in the room was slow-tempo jazz from the 1940's.

Karanna looked at the man with wide-eyes. He was dark-haired, tall, and incredibly handsome—so handsome, in fact, that Karanna barely noticed he was glowing with a faint blue light, and floating an inch off the ground.

The man looked over at Karanna. He smiled and winked.

"Oh, wow," Karanna said, staring back in awe.

Meanwhile, Mike had arrived on the first floor of the hotel, and was now inspecting the empty, quiet hotel kitchen. Reaching a long metal counter, he picked up a small pot and turned it over. Then, he opened a wooden draw. It was filled with silverware. Mike yawned. This was surprisingly boring.

Suddenly Karanna's voice crackled from Mike's walkie-talkie.

"Mike? You there?"

Mike took the walkie-talkie from his belt and pressed its button. "Yeah, Karrie, what's up?"

"I think I found the ghost."

"What?" Mike said, surprised. He brought the walkie-talkie closer to his mouth. "You did? What's it look like?"

Karanna stood in the hotel room as the dark-haired, glowing man took a sip of his drink.

"It looks like a man from the 1940's," Karanna said. "The most handsome man I've ever seen."

"Really?" Mike replied. "Is it gonna hurt you?"

"I don't think so."

The glowing man motioned "c'mere" to Karanna with his finger.

"I think it wants to have a drink with me," Karanna said, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, go for it," Mike replied.

Karanna carefully watched the man. He slowly stepped toward her, still floating off the ground, and then reached down and took her hand. Slowly, he brought it to his mouth, and kissed it.

Karanna pressed the button on her walkie-talkie. "But I don't drink."

Mike threw his hands up, frustrated. "Well, make an exception this time!"

Suddenly, there was a crash of pots and pans in the kitchen in front of Mike. He jumped, startled. His heart raced and his body stiffened.

"What was that?" he whispered.

"What do I do, Mike?" Karanna said from his walkie-talkie. "Should I—"

"Gotta go, bye!"

Mike turned off the walkie-talkie, then carefully walked forward. As he grew nearer to the kitchen's stove, he could hear the sizzling and popping sounds of food cooking, and utensils clanking against pots.

With his hands shaking, Mike stepped behind a metal shelf and hid. Then, as quietly as he could, he peeked around the shelf.

There was a fat, disgusting ghost of a man cooking at the stove. He was at least three hundred pounds, and sporting a yellow-stained chef's coat, a face that hadn't been shaved in days, and a tall, crumpled chef's hat on the top of his greasy head. He was also faintly glowing yellow, and his eyes were pure white.

As the chef ghost floated off the ground and loudly sang in French, his deep voice echoing in the kitchen, he sloppily cooked several dishes at once, shoving his spoon into overflowing pans and knocking knives and wine bottles to the floor. The main dish he was cooking, sitting on the stove in a large pot, appeared to be filled with an entire raw chicken, peanut butter, whipped cream, slices of pizza, Coca-Cola, spaghetti noodles, cake frosting, and torn pieces of a pink bath towel.

Mike retreated back behind the shelf. "Karrie?" he said into his walkie-talkie. "You sure you found the ghost?"

On the twelfth floor, Karanna sat on the bed with the glowing man in the tuxedo. They were now both holding drinks. As the man grinned, he leaned over and playfully unzipped Karanna's jumpsuit.

"Yeah," Karanna replied into her walkie-talkie. "I'm pretty sure."

In the kitchen, Mike looked out at the chef ghost.

"Really?" he whispered. "'Cuz I'm pretty sure I got one down here."

"There must be two of them," Karanna said. "God, I'm in love with you."

Mike looked at the walkie-talkie. "What?"

"Not you," Karanna said. "The ghost. His hands feel so good."

"Okay, this is getting weird. Be careful, Karrie."

"I think he's gonna marry me," Karanna said. Then, she went silent, with only static sounding from Mike's walkie-talkie.

"Karrie?" Mike said. "Karrie? Oh, great."

Putting his walkie-talkie back onto his belt, Mike watched the massive, gluttonous chef. The yellow ghost stood at the stove and dumped an entire pot of bacon down its throat. The kitchen around him was a complete mess.

"Well," Mike said to himself, "here's the last thing I do before I die."

With a scream that was much more high-pitched than he wanted it to be, Mike jumped out from behind the shelf and fired his proton gun at the ghost. The yellow, orange, and blue beams shot across the kitchen and blasted right over the chef's head. Angry, the chef roared and shot upward, flying toward the ceiling in a panic.

As the ghost zoomed around the room, smashing into every pot, pan, and refrigerator in his way, Mike kept blasting at the creature, but he could barely control his gun; now that it was turned on and proton beams were screaming out of it, the thing seemed to have a mind of its own, jerking Mike's arms left and right. The beams were flying everywhere, and eventually they struck a stove. The appliance immediately exploded in a _BOOM!_ of gas and blue flames, setting one of the nearby walls on fire.

Finally, dashing to its left, the chef ghost flew away and escaped, disappearing through a wall and leaving a puddle of yellow slime behind it.

Mike turned off his proton gun. The fires around the room were snapping and popping, and nearly everything was singed with long lines of black soot.

"That went well," Mike said to himself.

Unaware of the activity in the kitchen and on the twelfth floor, Oscar strolled through the main banquet room of the hotel and scanned the area with his PKE meter. Everything was quiet; there wasn't a person in sight. In fact, the room was still set up for the wedding reception that was currently on hold, with dozens of tables scattered about covered in white table cloths, a DJ turntable booth, and balloons tied to the chairs, floating in the air.

Oscar's walkie-talkie crackled. "Osco?" Mike said. "Osco, you there?"

"Yeah," Oscar replied. "Did you find anything yet?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Karrie's losing her virginity to the ghost of Cary Grant, and I just saw what looked like Chef Boyardee on crystal meth, so yeah."

"Really? Wow, what was it like?"

"Terrifying. I'm gonna try and track it down. I also might have caused three or four thousand dollars worth of damage."

"That's okay. Keep me posted."

"I will. And let me know if you see anything, too."

Oscar looked around the banquet room. "All right, but honestly, I don't think anything's here. This place is dead."

However, Oscar didn't know that something was watching him, across the other side of the room, carefully hiding behind the banquet hall bar. It was something that glowed with a bright green light…

On the twelfth floor, Karanna sat on the bed, with the blue man in the tuxedo standing in front of her. He was unbuttoning his jacket, and still smiling.

Even though Karanna knew better, and even through she knew it was a ghost, she couldn't help herself. There was just something about this man…something that drew her in. She was pulled to him, as if she was on a rope, and she couldn't convince herself to stop. Everything in her body was telling her to stay as close to this man as possible, her thoughts were no longer her own, and she didn't care. This was the man she was meant to be with for the rest of her life.

After he took off his jacket, the man reached down with his hand and stroked Karanna's cheek. She giggled awkwardly.

"Oh, wow," she said. "This is...I've never done anything like this before. This is great. I know we just met, but I love you."

The man smiled. He sat down near her and pulled her face closer to his.

"You are wonderful," Karanna said. "You make me feel like a woman should feel."

The man held up a finger to his mouth and "_shushed_" Karanna. Then, he leaned down to kiss her. Just as their lips were about to touch, Karanna got a glimpse of the man's hand on her shoulder. She suddenly realized it was a hideous claw—bony, covered with patches of grey hair, and tipped with razor-sharp fingernails. Snapping out of it, she moved away from him, laughing.

"Whoa!" she said. "Oh, hey. Watch it. Step away." She chuckled. "That was...a little fast. We just met. We gotta take it slow. Do you wanna go get Indian food and watch a documentary on Netflix or something?"

"No," the man said.

"No?"

"We've got everything we need right here."

"Well, we don't have romance, that's for sure. I don't even know anything about you. What's your mom's name? Did you have any pets growing up?"

The man suddenly floated up into the air. The blue glow around him started to intensify. His eyes went blank, pulsing with an intense light, and when he opened his mouth, he revealed long fangs. As he raised his arms, several long, black, furry, spider-like legs emerged from behind his back, arching over him and pointing at Karanna. When Karanna looked down at the man's feet, she noticed they were hoofed like a demon.

Karanna jumped up off the bed and pulled her proton gun from her back. Stepping away from the man in the tuxedo, she backed up against the wall.

"Typical. You get to know a guy you really like, and he turns out to be a total asshole. Let me guess: you have a girlfriend, too."

From the air, the man leaned down and screamed in Karanna's face, blowing her hair back.

In the banquet hall, Oscar looked around, bored, and inspected the large, wide room with his PKE meter. He still didn't realize that his PKE meter was malfunctioning…or that something was watching him.

From behind the banquet hall bar, the spying creature carefully hid, peering out at Oscar. It focused on Oscar's nametag: VENKMAN.

The creature gurgled. It knew that name.

As Oscar moved onto another section of the banquet hall, waving his PKE meter over a table full of wedding gifts, he suddenly heard a growling, piercing, deep-throated, excited scream behind him.

Spinning around, Oscar was shocked to see a gelatinous, green, slimy, yellow-eyed, wide-mouthed blob flying toward him, with its long skinny arms outstretched. Terrifyingly, it was smiling, and very happy to see him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Oscar screamed, trying to step away but frozen in his tracks.

As Oscar closed his eyes and winced, the green ghost flew right into him, splatting into him with a nasty splash of green slime and knocking him to the floor. Before Oscar could get up, the ghost leaned down and licked Oscar's face with its long, pink tongue.

Then, the ghost zoomed upward, laughing maniacally as it disappeared into the ceiling with a loud, sticky _BLURP!_

Oscar lay on the banquet hall floor, covered from head-to-toe in green slime. It was surrounding him in a puddle, and dripping off his arms, legs, shoulders, hair, nose, and backpack.

"So," Oscar said, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "That was Slimer."

On the twelfth floor, Karanna stood against the wall, her proton gun pointed at the man in the tuxedo, who was now moving closer to her, with his spider-legs dashing out at her, trying to grab her with their claws.

"Okay, you know what," Karanna said. "I think we've had too much to drink and we aren't thinking straight. I don't wanna do something that might ruin our friendship."

The man suddenly dropped to the floor, all eight of his spider-legs clawing at the carpet. Skittering toward Karanna, he hissed, with his face now completely demonic, with eight eyes, no nose, and a mouth full of sharp fangs.

Then, suddenly interrupting the attack, Slimer burst into the hotel room from the floor. He glanced at the spider-ghost, and then looked to Karanna. Arching his green eyebrow, he gurgled, confused. He recognized that nametag, too, but not the person wearing the uniform.

Karanna screamed in the green ghost's face. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Slimer screamed right back. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

As the two of them screamed, Slimer flew up and away into the ceiling, leaving behind a green puddle. Below him, the spider-ghost watched him go, angry.

Then, from behind them, Oscar ran into the hotel room, holding his now-functioning PKE meter and covered in green slime.

"Holy shit," he said with wide eyes.

Growling, the spider-ghost spun around. It focused its attention on Oscar. Moving quicker than it ever did before, it skittered toward him, snarling, with its fangs gritted and its claws bared.

Finally, Karanna shook her head, regained her thoughts, and pulled the trigger on her proton gun. The wild beams flew across the room and seared into the spider-ghost's back. It screamed in agony, and then began to shoot webs from its legs all over the room, spinning in a fury. In a matter of seconds, everything in the room was covered with sticky, grey, spider webs.

With Karanna barely able to control her proton gun, and with the energy streams crashing into the bed, bureau, desk, and mini-fridge in the room, she finally harnessed the spider-ghost as it bellowed in anger. Once she had a halfway decent grip on her gun, she reached with her other hand to the trap on her belt. Flinging the trap out into the middle of the room, she pulled the struggling, screeching spider-ghost over the top of the yellow-and-black box, and then stepped on the trap's pedal. Immediately, the furious howls of the spider-ghost stopped, and it was sucked down into the trap. The trap's doors closed, and the light on its top blinked red.

Oscar poked his head up from behind the bed, where he had been hiding during the proton stream barrage. He was now covered in both green slime and grey, sticky spider-webs.

All was quiet. Oscar and Karanna looked at each other, blinking, with stunned looks across their faces.

"You okay?" Oscar asked.

"Yeah. You?"  
>"Yeah."<p>

"What's all that green stuff?"

"I got slimed. Is your jumpsuit unzipped?"

Karanna looked down. "Tonight, I fell in love. We were from different sides of the tracks, but we were similar in all the ways that mattered."

Oscar looked at her a moment, confused. "What the hell?"

Then, Mike's voice crackled from Oscar's walkie-talkie.

"Hey guys, I could really use some help down here."

Oscar and Karanna could also hear the sounds of proton beams buzzing, glass crashing to the ground, and people screaming.

"We're on our way," Oscar said, grabbing his walkie-talkie. He turned to Karanna. "C'mon, let's go."

Karanna followed Oscar out of the room.

"I feel so dirty," she said. "This must be how Mike feels every Sunday morning."

As Oscar and Karanna ran out of the elevator, they were shocked to find Mike standing in the lobby and shooting his proton beams up at the chef ghost, who was zooming wildly around the high ceiling. Hotel guests, bellhops, and other hotel workers were screaming in fright, either huddled together in the corner, dashing toward the elevator, or running out the front door. Mike had already done some serious damage to the lobby, with the walls seared and smoking, three chandeliers crashed to the ground, and the couches around the fireplace overturned and slightly on fire.

"Finally!" Mike yelled. "Give me a hand here, guys—I can't get a hold of this damn thing! Karanna, you get him from that end. Oscar, over there near the front desk!"

"I haven't really fired this thing yet," Oscar yelled.

"It's not so bad once you get the hang of it."

Gritting his teeth, Mike whipped his beams toward the chef ghost, but overshot his target. The energy streams blasted the hotel's entryway, sending people cowering to the floor as an entire glass wall shattered in an explosion of sparks.

"Sorry!" Mike said to the terrified hotel guests.

As Mike re-aimed his proton gun toward the chef ghost, Oscar and Karanna claimed their spots: Karanna near the entrance, and Oscar near the front desk. The three friends were now in a triangular formation, surrounding the chef ghost, and almost immediately they ensnared the disgusting, yellow chef in their streams.

"We got it, we got him!" Karanna yelled. "Oscar, throw out your trap!"

Oscar reached to his belt and flung his trap out into the center of the lobby. As the chef ghost pounded his arms against his belly and screamed in anger, his body wrapped in the snapping, humming energy beams, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna worked together to carefully move their proton guns in unison and bring the ghost directly over the trap.

"Now, Oscar!" Karanna yelled. "Step on it! Don't look into the trap!"

Bringing his black boot up, Oscar closed his eyes and stomped on the pedal. The doors opened, the cone of light shot out, and the ghost was sucked down into the yellow and black box. When he was gone, the cone of light faded, and the trap door's closed.

Slowly, now that everything was safe, the hotel guests and workers came out of hiding. Still nervous, they whispered to each other and pointed at the three friends.

In the center of the lobby, Oscar walked to the trap and picked it up. He held it by its tube and turned to the others, with the box still smoking.

"That was awesome," Oscar said with a grin.

"That was terrifying," Mike replied.

"I'm gonna throw up," Karanna said, leaning over with her hands on her knees.

Stepping over the broken chandeliers and overturned chairs, the hotel manager rushed over to them. His suit was singed, his face was streaked with yellow goo, and his hair was a mess, but he was happy to see the ghost gone.

"Did you catch it?" he asked frantically. "Is it gone?"

"Well, actually there were three of them, sir," Oscar replied.

"Yeah, and we got two, so you know...not bad for our first time," Mike added.

The manager's face dropped. "First time?" He looked at the blinking ghost trap in Oscar's hand. "You only got two of them?"

"Yeah, so…I guess we'll bill you later?" Mike replied. "The two out of three special? Thanks, Chief."

Walking by the manager, Mike slapped him on his arm. Then, as the crowd of hotel guests gathered around them, now fully sure they were safe, the three friends made their way towards the exit. People were thanking them and shaking their hands, with big, relieved smiles. Many of them were clapping.

"Look out, we have a ghost here!" Oscar said, careful to hold the smoking ghost trap up away from the crowd. "Be careful! Coming through!"

"Here we go!" Mike called out. "Make room! Watch out for Karanna, folks, she's like four feet tall! Don't step on her."

Finally reaching the hotel doors, the friends stepped into the street. The sidewalk was lined with onlookers, reporters, and TV news cameras. At the sight of the Ghostbusters, the crowd clapped and cheered, surprised to see the familiar brown jumpsuits and backpacks.

Many of the reporters were asking questions, but Oscar, Mike, and Karanna couldn't hear them over the commotion. As they walked toward Ecto-1, Mike noticed a camera filming them.

"Hello New York, how are ya?" he said, stepping toward the camera. "Nice to meet you. The Ghostbusters, coming through!"

When the Ghostbusters reached Ecto-1, they hopped in and started her up, maneuvering her through the surprised citizens of New York City. Once the car was free, Oscar hit the gas, flicked a switch, and they took off, speeding through the streets with the ambulance's sirens blaring.

The Ghostbusters were back.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Over the next three weeks, the new Ghostbusters became a roaring success. With their ghostbusting, spirit-hunting, demon-fighting exploits, they were the talk of New York City…and, really, the entire country. At Yankee Stadium, they stopped an infestation of dead angry minor leaguers who never got a shot at the big leagues. On Broadway, they fought a red, three-headed dragon the size of a school bus that had escaped from a magical pot in Chinatown. In Manhattan, they caught a group of ghost tourists who insisted on eating at Sbarro even though they were only blocks from Little Italy, and at the Brooklyn Bridge, they rescued a middle school field trip and their chaperones from a squadron of 900-year-old vampires. All over the city, their exploits appeared as huge headlines in the New York newspapers:

NEW GHOSTBUSTERS, NEW HEROES! GB'S CLEAN UP NEW YORK!

NYC HIT WITH PLAGUE OF GHOSTS! GB'S BACK IN BUSINESS!

GHOSTBUSTERS SAVE SUBWAY FROM BEATBOXING DEMON!

With appearances on Jimmy Fallon, guest spots on Saturday Night Live, T-shirts all over the city, 3 million Facebook fans, and topics like #newghostbustersrule, #whoyagonnacall, and #isoscarsingle? constantly trending at the top of Twitter, the new Ghostbusters were everywhere…even if 45% of the time they still had very little idea of what they were doing.

But still, even with all the attention and all the calls coming into the firehouse, there was important work to be done. After all, the original Ghostbusters were still missing, and rescuing them was still the number one priority above all else. This was a matter of life and death—involving some of the most important people in their lives—and all possible attention and resources had to be focused on finding them. As every day went by, the new Ghostbusters knew they had to work harder than ever to rescue their friends.

With that thought weighing heavily on his mind, Oscar Venkman walked up the steps to City Hall in lower Manhattan. Because he had just come from a job and was wearing his dirty, slime-stained jumpsuit, dozens of people were asking for his autograph and posing for photos with him as he made his way to the front door.

Several floors above, in the Mayor's office, the man Oscar was coming to see, Peter Venkman, sat behind his desk. However, still no one in the city had discovered that this was not Peter Venkman. It was secretly Steve Townsend, also known as Breygron the Watcher, leader of the Breygron Clan, a twisted, demon-worshipping cult from the late 1800's.

At the moment, however, this would have been obvious to anyone in Evil Peter's office, as he was floating three feet above his desk, with his legs crossed, his hands raised horizontally, and his body swaying. His eyes were also lifeless and white, and his body glowing with a purple light.

"Hassa mo londoolay," he chanted, his voice deep and graveled. "Hassa mo londoolay...hassa mo londoolay…"

There was a knock at the office's door.

"Pete?" Oscar said. "You busy?"

Evil Peter dropped into his chair, with his face, body, and voice reverting back to normal.

"No, come in, come in. I was just…meditating. Hot yoga, it's all the rage."

Oscar opened the door stepped inside. "Hey, Pete. Sorry I haven't been by to see you lately, we've just been so busy—calls won't stop coming into the firehouse from people with ghosts. But, I wanted to come by and let you know how we're doing with the Tesla Converter."

"The what?" Evil Peter asked. "Oh, yeah, yeah." He used a little hand mirror to look at something stuck in his teeth. "How's that going? Can't wait to hear about it. Can't wait."

"It's going pretty good. Karrie got it powered up again, but we still can't figure out how it's supposed to open a door to..." Oscar watched Evil Peter, who had now turned in his chair to look out the window. "Pete? You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, pal. I'm just so worried about you and your friends."

Evil Peter reached across the desk and grabbed Oscar's hand. Oscar immediately pulled it back.

"Ah," he said. "Your hand is freezing."

Evil Peter walked around the office, shaking his head. "It must be my nerves. All this Ghostbusting you're doing...I don't like it, Oscar. I'm worried sick about you."

Oscar furrowed his brow. "Why? Everything is going okay. I told you if you didn't want us to fill in as Ghostbusters while the others are gone, we wouldn't. Why are you worried?"

"It's just that…I remember how dangerous it can be, and...it pains me to think about you out there with those...those ghosts."

Evil Peter placed his hand on Oscar's shoulder. Looking to the floor, he had a bizarre, forced, and very phony worried look across his face. His acting job wasn't very good, and it was only succeeding in weirding Oscar out.

"Okay," Oscar said, looking at Evil Peter's hand on his shoulder. "But we're doing a pretty good job, I think. We're getting dozens of calls every day, though I am a little concerned, because Karrie and I think it's probably building up to something big."

Evil Peter shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so."

"You don't?"

Evil Peter walked to his desk. "No, it's just a little case of ghost fever, that's all. One of those New York City fads. Like Cronuts or the Knicks."

"A fad? Pete, there were hardly any ghost sightings for over twenty years, and now they're coming out of the woodwork? It's just like you always told me with Mom's refrigerator, and how that led to Zuul and Gozer—"

"No, it's nothing like that. It'll pass, I'm sure."

Oscar stepped toward the door. His step-dad was kind of annoying him, and not in his usual somehow-still-charming way.

"Okay. But Karrie and I are gonna keep researching it, just in case. I'm gonna get going. I'll talk to you later."

Evil Peter stood at the window and looked out at the city. "Okay. Bye, son. I love you forever."

Oscar walked into the hall, suspicious, and closed the door. "You, too. Bye."

Once Oscar was gone, Evil Peter reverted back to his demonic form, with his red eyes, wild hair, and wispy smoke fluttering off his suit. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the hand that had touched Oscar.

"Ugh," he said. "The college students smell even worse than the regular humans."

At the entrance of City Hall, as Oscar made his way outside, he ran into Peter's assistant, Jack. Jack was holding several folders of papers and clearly headed Peter's way.

"Hey, Jack," Oscar said, stopping him. "Will you do me a favor? Can you keep an eye on Peter for me?"

"Yeah, sure, Oscar. Why?"

Oscar thought it over. "I just—I don't know. He's acting a little weird lately. Let me know if you see him do anything strange, okay?"

"Sure. And, hey—I heard you on Stern this morning. Awesome stuff, Mr. Celebrity. Very funny."

Oscar laughed, embarrassed. "Oh, thanks. I'll see ya later, Jack."

After watching Oscar step into a cab, Jack headed up the elevator to Peter's office. Once he entered the office and closed the door, Jack revealed his demonic form—similar to Evil Peter and Evil Dana, his eyes glowed red, his body smoked, and his feet floated four inches off the ground. As he walked toward Evil Peter, two ghostly forms emerged from the walls of the office. They looked identical to Jack, and stood on either side of him as he stepped in front of the mayor's desk.

"The young man is becoming suspicious, Master," the three assistants said in unison, their voices echoing.

Evil Peter sat at the desk, with Evil Dana now standing behind him and rubbing his shoulders.

"Yes, I know," Evil Peter said, covering his eyes with his hands. "I hate acting like one of these skin and bones bodies. It is so humiliating."

"Show your true self and begin what we came here for, Master," Evil Dana told him. "The combatants are ready to arrive."

Evil Peter nodded. "Yes, we have waited long enough. It is time to welcome our very special guests. But, first, we have to get these damn Ghostbusters out of our way. And to do that, I have a pretty good plan in mind…"


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Back at the firehouse, Mike and Karanna stepped out of Ecto-1, finally home after a long day of Ghostbusting. Both of their jumpsuits were covered in orange slime and black soot, and as they shuffled their feet toward their lockers—barely standing from exhaustion—they took off their proton packs and simply let them drop to the ground.

"I'm gonna go work on the Tesla Converter," Karanna said, heading for the stairs. "I haven't had time to look at it in days."

"You do that," Mike said, yawning, his face smeared with grey smudges. "Me, I'm gonna go lay down and die somewhere."

As Mike headed to his office, he passed by the firehouse's receptionist desk, which faced the building's front entrance. Jessica was there, doing her best to answer five different ringing phones, all of them featuring blinking lights.

"Yes," she said into the phone, her hand quickly scribbling in a notebook. "I'll let them know. Yes, an emergency. I know. They'll be there tomorrow between 10 and 5. I know. I'm sorry. Yes, I know. I can't hear you, I think you're breaking up. Okay, bye."

After hanging up, Jessica turned towards Mike's office. He flopped down into his chair and flung his head back, his eyes closed.

"You look exhausted," Jessica said.

"I am. We all are. Wake me up when its 2058."

"You could definitely use some more help. There was always four Ghostbusters, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Mike said, without opening his eyes. "But where are we gonna find someone that knows the equipment? I barely know the equipment."

"I do."

Mike sat up and looked at Jessica. Then he laughed and lay back down.

"That's funny."

"What?"

Mike grinned. "I don't think you have, uh, what it takes, Jessica."

Jessica shook her head. "I've been studying with Professor Spengler and Professor Zeddemore just as long as you, Mike. I know everything you do. In fact, I know a lot more."

Jessica reached to a Geiger meter on her desk and held it up, showing it to Mike.

"What's this?"

Mike opened his eyes. "That is a Geiger Meter."

"What does it do?"

Mike waved his hand around in the air. "You move it around like this and it counts geigers. Too many geigers is bad."

"Why?"

Mike thought it over. "Go upstairs and help Karanna. Make sure you two don't spontaneously combust into a Dungeons and Dragons game or something."

Angry, Jessica headed up the stairs. With a long sigh and happy to be alone, Mike leaned back in his chair again and closed his eyes.

From the doorway, Christine stepped in. "Mike?"

"What is it now?" he grumbled, eyes still closed.

"Geez, I didn't know you'd be so happy to see me."

Mike sat up. "Oh! Hi, Christine. I didn't know it was you. Here, come in and sit down. We'll rub each other's feet. And by that, I mean you'll rub mine till I fall asleep."

"That's very tempting, thanks, but Walt is here, from the restaurant? Oscar wanted to talk to him."

"Okay. I give permission for Oscar to talk to him."

"Oscar's not here, so you are gonna talk to him."

Mike grabbed a pillow from his desk and covered his face, whining. "But Mikey don't wanna talk to no one."

Five minutes later, and against his will, Mike sat at the long black table in the science lab, talking with Walt. Walt looked incredibly ill, with pale skin, grey circles under his eyes, and a nose that wouldn't stop running.

"So, what do you know about your great-grandfather?" Mike asked, looking at a photograph of Jonathan Tobin. "The guy who owned the barn before you?"

"Not much," Walter said, wiping his nose. "He died when I was little. But I do remember he used to always tell me ghost stories and things like that, all kinds of weird stories, but my mom always told me he was a little crazy."

"He wasn't," Mike replied. "He was actually a researcher of ghosts and the paranormal, and that barn of yours is filled with his artifacts. We'd love to take a look at it."

"Sure, of course. You can go there right now."

Walt suddenly coughed violently, holding his handkerchief to his mouth and hunched over, unable to catch his breath.

"Eeesh," Mike said, leaning away. "You okay there, Walt?"

Walt stopped coughing and groaned, aggravated. "Yeah, I've just been feeling sick the last couple days. Hopefully it goes away soon. Can you do me one favor, though? When you check out the barn, can you try and not make a scene? I don't wanna upset the people at the restaurant."

Mike held out his hands with a grin. "Walt, we're complete professionals."

An hour and ten minutes later, Ecto-1 pulled up with a screech in front of Rundersmith's Tavern. The vehicle hit one of the metal lion statues that sat out in front of the restaurant and knocked it over with a _CLANG!_

Mike hopped out of the ambulance and looked toward the restaurant. It was filled with customers, all of whom were looking out the windows at the red and white vehicle that had just nearly driven into the side of the building. Some of the guests were eating outside, giving them an even better view of the bizarre scene.

"Oh, hello there," Mike said awkwardly to the diners, dressed in his full Ghostbusting gear. "Beautiful night, isn't it?"

The crowd of people gasped at the sight of Josh and Christine, who stepped out of Ecto-1. Josh looked back at them in his green-skinned glory.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "like none of you are ugly." He looked down at a couple eating at a table in front of him. "Look at this guy. He looks like he just crawled out of the toilet."

Mike grabbed Josh and pushed him along as they made their way to the rear of the restaurant. "He just had too much sun today," Mike explained. "That's why he looks like this. As the Ghostbusters always say, 'use sunscreen!' The sun is a silent killer!"

"Okay," Karanna said from behind Mike, "let's get this done before they get out the torches and pitchforks."

After opening the door to the old barn, Mike, Karanna, Christine, and Josh stepped inside. As Karanna scanned the area with her PKE meter, Christine and Mike walked together, with Mike looking at the various trinkets and artifacts lining the barn's tables.

"Mike, can I ask you a question? Without you giving me a stupid answer?"

"Probably not, but we can try."

"What's wrong with Oscar? The couple nights I've stayed over at the firehouse, he never seems to sleep. And he's always tired and yawning during the day."

Mike thought it over. "Um, Oscar is a little bit of a nervous type of guy. He always has been, since I've known him. When he and Karanna are working on their experiments, he's fine. But, when he's alone, he gets kinda...nervous. But don't tell him I told you that."

"I won't." Christine looked to Mike with a smirk. "Ya know, I'm kind of surprised."

"Why?"

"Because it actually sounds like you're concerned about someone other than yourself."

Mike laughed, offended. "Hey, I care about my friends. Oscar and Karanna are so clueless, if I don't, who knows what would happen to them."

Christine smiled. "Huh. And here I thought you were a completely self-centered asshole."

"No. And you know who else I care about?"

"Who?"

Mike looked into her eyes, smiling. "You. Very much."

Christine stared at him. "Nope. I was right. You're an asshole."

She turned and walked away.

"Damn," Mike said to himself. "I was doing good there for a second, too."

Across the barn, Mike noticed Karanna near the rear of the cluttered building. She was now wearing her Ecto-Goggles.

"What's up, Karrie? What have we got?"

She shook her head. "Nothing of significance yet. But because there are so many ecto-charged objects in this barn, it's like we're looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Well," Mike said, pointing, "I think Josh just found our needle."

Karanna turned in that direction. Josh was now standing in front of a shelf against the side wall. Five small wooden totems with demon faces were sitting on the shelf—the same totems Josh and Christine had encountered the night they were first possessed.

Staring at the totems, Josh was entranced, with his eyes wide open but lifeless. Suddenly, he floated upward toward the ceiling, his feet leaving the floor. Silently, his body spun around in a circle.

Mike and Karanna walked over to him, concerned.

"Hey, Josh," Mike said. "You wanna come down from there, buddy? I don't want you hitting your head on the ceiling."

Josh opened his mouth, suddenly speaking in a graveled, deep, booming voice, his eyes pinned wide open.

"The five will doom us," he said. "The five will destroy us. The five will bring darkness for all."

"That's not very nice," Mike replied. "And someone needs a lozenge."

Floating in the air, Josh began chanting, his eyes pure white and his arms stuck out sideways. His voice grew louder with each word.

"Hassa mo londoolay...hassa mo londoolay...hassa mo londoolay..."

Mike turned to Karanna. "Karrie, get your slime blower ready."

Karanna flicked a switch on her proton gun, changing its setting to slime mode.

"Mike, what's happening?" Christine asked, afraid. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Suddenly, the five demon totems caught Christine's eye. She fell back, her legs giving out as she collapsed to the floor, her eyes fluttering. Mike rushed to her and knelt down beside her.

"Hey, hey, are you okay, Christine?"

He helped her sit up, holding her head. She was out of it and woozy.

"When I looked at those things...my god, my head. It's pounding."

Mike stayed with Christine, but turned to Karanna. "Okay, we have a situation with those wooden fellas, Karrie. Hose Josh down. Now."

Karanna pointed her proton gun at Josh and pulled the trigger. This time, green slime sprayed out from the gun in a thick stream, shooting up toward Josh and covering him from head to toe. As the slime hit him, he reacted violently, flinging his head back and forth and thrashing his arms, sending slime flinging all over the barn. However, soon, his body floated back down to the earth, and the white glow in his eyes faded.

"Is that hurting him?" Christine asked Mike.

"No, it's helping him. That kind of slime de-possesses people. It's positively charged. But stay here anyway—we need to keep you away from those things."

Near Karanna, Josh fell to the ground in a heap. He was no longer entranced, but he was now covered in green slime. Waking up, he look at his drenched clothes, confused, with goo dripping off his nose.

"Why did you do that?" he asked Karanna.

"To stop you from being possessed."

Josh held out his arm. It was still green and purple. "Then why do I still look like this?"

Then, there was a quiet _THUNK_ behind Karanna. She turned around.

A lamp on a nearby table was turning itself on and off—_click, click! click, click!—_with its light blinking in the darkness.

Mike noticed the lamp. "Uh, Karrie? Why's it doing that?"

With a loud, rattling hum, all of the mechanical devices in the barn then turned on. The rusted blenders, vacuum cleaners, antique lawn mowers, farm equipment, and a table full of old tin wind-up toys started operating on their own, filling the air with the sound of their vibrating and shaking. Four radios to the right of Mike even turned on, playing news broadcasts from the 1930's.

Mike, Karanna, Josh, and Christine stood in the middle of the barn, looking around in shock, surrounded by the self-operating appliances.

"I've heard of the Kitchen of Tomorrow," Mike said, "but this is ridiculous."

The lamp on the table next to Karanna suddenly sprang to life, sporting a mouth filled with fangs under its lampshade and spindly arms sticking from its sides. Hopping off the table, it ran at Karanna, snarling and biting the air.

Karanna blasted the lamp ghost with her gun, hitting it with proton beams, but nothing happened. The enraged lamp still kept running at her.

"Karrie, that didn't do anything," Mike said, stating the obvious.

Karanna jumped out of the way as a demonic toy truck leapt at her from a shelf above her head. Hiding from the growling toy, she changed the setting on her proton gun.

"That's because these aren't ghosts," Karanna said, "they are ecto-plasmically activated objects! Switch your thrower to Boson Darts."

"What's that mean?" Christine asked.

Mike stood in front of her as he changed the setting on his gun. "It means stand behind me so you don't get shot with a Boson Dart."

Closing one eye, Mike aimed his proton gun at the toy truck near Karanna. When he pulled its trigger, the gun didn't shoot out a yellow-and-blue electronic stream—instead, it shot out a concentrated sphere of yellow-and-blue energy the size of a baseball. When the sphere hit the truck, it exploded into hundreds of plastic pieces, and the toy was no longer a threat.

Working together, as the dozens of radios, toys, lamps, lawn mowers, and electronic cake mixers rushed at the group, enraged and ready to rip them into shreds, Karanna and Mike fired their proton guns, hitting the ecto-plasmically charged objects with Boson Darts. Most of the objects were destroyed by the energy spheres, but even the ones that survived were sent flying with such force that they smashed against the floor and side walls.

Finally, as Karanna stepped forward, she fired her gun at the last demonic object—a bouncing engine carburetor with eight arms. Once the carburetor exploded and all was quiet, Mike looked around the barn. Almost every artifact, antique, trinket, tool, and book in the building was destroyed.

"I hope we didn't need any of this stuff," Mike said.

Walking to the shelf against the wall, Karanna carefully approached the five wooden totems carved with demon faces, which were still sitting silently in their places.

"No," Karanna said. "I think all we need to be concerned with are these five things here."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Two days later, it was only a few hours away from the start of the dinner rush at Rundersmith's Tavern. Walt was in the kitchen's storage room, finishing up one last produce order on the phone, hopeful that it was going to be another busy night. At the moment, there was only one other person in the storage room with Walt—one of his waiters, a college student named Sam, who was holding a notebook and doing an inventory of all the things they would need that night.

"No, I know," Walt said into the phone, wiping his nose. He was still battling that bad cold that just wouldn't go away. "But I need the order for tomorrow, Paul. I have a big anniversary party coming, and I don't want—"

Suddenly, Walt stiffened. His arms fell to his sides, and he dropped the phone, letting it dangle by the cord.

Nearby, Sam scribbled in the notebook, unaware of the change in Walt.

"Hey, Walt, I forgot to tell you, some guy at table two wants a—"

Walt turned around and pushed Sam out of his way, walking toward the storage room exit. Sam stumbled back, falling into a shelf of paper towels.

"Hey, what the hell? Walt, where are you going?"

With his face blank of emotion, Walt walked out of the storage room, stepped out the kitchen's back door, and disappeared into the night.

An hour and ten minutes later, the assistant to the Mayor of New York City led Walt—now entranced, dead-faced, and wide-eyed—into the mayor's office. Walt walked with slow, deliberate footsteps, and he still hadn't blinked since he left the restaurant.

Inside the mayor's office, Evil Peter stood behind his desk, flanked by Evil Dana and a dozen other evil assistants, all of whom looked exactly identical. At the sight of Walt, Evil Peter smiled.

"Hello, Walt. Finally. The last member of the clan is here. Now it can begin."

Evil Peter thought it over.

"I think I'll call a press conference."

Meanwhile, in the firehouse science lab, Josh was being submitted to yet another test. Raising his eyes, he stared up at the two giant suction cups stuck to his twisted horns. Tubes from the suction cups led to two giant, glass vats of green slime, which were sitting on the table next to Josh. Every once in a while, the green slime would pop and bubble.

Karanna sat next to Josh at a control board of buttons, levers, and switches. "Josh, something you said back at the barn made me think: why doesn't the green slime depossess you like it normally does for people? I think I figured it out—we need to use it in its concentrated form."

"Okay," Josh replied nervously.

"Just relax and think happy thoughts."

Turning a knob, Karanna activated the machine. After a few moments, the slime in the two glass vats on either side of Josh popped and bubbled with more intensity, and soon the slime traveled up the tubes and right into Josh's horns, turning the horns faintly green.

"Whoa," Josh said, extending his fingers and sitting up straight. "Whoa..."

"What is it?" Karanna said, ready to turn down the slime pump. "Are you okay?"

"This is...this is..._amazing_."

Josh sat back and closed his eyes, his body drooping into his chair. He was suddenly in ecstasy, running his hands all over his body. As he moaned, his skin rippled and bubbled, changing colors from green to purple.

"I'm swimming," he said, in a blissful trance. "Naked, in a pool of cookie dough ice cream. The cast of _Pretty Little Liars_ is here. And...oh my god, thank you. I just won the Grammy for Best New Artist for my acoustic-experimental-hip-hop album. All my dreams are coming true."

Karanna eyeballed her machine. "This is either the best thing I ever invented or the worst."

A few feet away, at the science lab table, Jessica sat hunched over, working on the coils of the Tesla Converter with a wrench. Frustrated, she sat back with a loud sigh.

"What was Ray talking about?" she said. "There's no way this thing can generate enough power to open a Spirit Door."

Behind her, from the stairs, Oscar entered.

"Hey, Jessica. Where's Ecto-1?"

"I don't know. Mike took it to pick up his dry-cleaning a little while ago. Why he needed it to do that, I have no idea."

"Well, we just got a call," Oscar said. "What should I do? How am I gonna get there?"

Ten minutes later, Oscar was jammed into a crowded New York City subway car. Everyone around him was even unhappier than usual, as he took up the space of about three people, thanks to all of his Ghostbusting gear. With the bodies of a dozen and a half New Yorkers pressed up against him, and shoving him every time the car bumped or turned, Oscar gripped the metal pole next to him.

"I'm gonna kill Mike," he sneered.

Driving through New York City, Mike was eating up his new celebrity life. With the driver's side window of Ecto-1 rolled down, he waved out at the hundreds of people stopping to get a better look at the Ghostbusters' vehicle. Every once in a while, he would even honk the horn, turn on the ambulance's siren, or call out to a young fan who was shouting that Mike was his favorite Ghostbuster.

Just as Mike was about to end his impromptu, one-man parade, he finally saw the person who was his entire reason for driving through this part of the city. On the sidewalk ahead of him, Christine was walking briskly toward an apartment building, carrying two overflowing bags of groceries.

Driving the car forward, Mike pulled over and hung out of the open window. "Where are you headed, you gorgeous purple-haired lady you?"

Christine shook her head, laughing. "Hi, Mike. I'm just bringing these to my grandmother's place."

Mike turned off the engine and stepped out. "Well, what kind of guy would I be if I just drove away and left you carrying those all by yourself? Here, let me see that."

Mike took the two grocery bags from her.

"Thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"I know. But this counts for something, right?"

A few minutes later, they stepped into Christine's grandmother's apartment.

"Wow," Mike said, placing the groceries on the kitchen table. "Nice place. Your grandmother lives here?"

"Yup, all her life, basically. She loves the city, but she's getting older, so Josh and I like to help out when we can."

Mike spotted a newspaper article stuck to the refrigerator. "Hey!" He pointed to the picture. It was of the new Ghostbusters. "We're on the fridge!"

Christine began putting the groceries away. "Yes, my grandmother loves you guys. Her friends' house was haunted a while back, and the original Ghostbusters showed up and got rid of the ghost, so she's been obsessed ever since. And now she thinks you guys are the greatest."

"That is so cool. I love your grandmother."

"I try to tell her all the time what you guys are like in real life, but she won't listen to me."

"Hey. Don't ruin the illusion for our fans. Do you think she'll mind if I sign it?"

"No, she'd probably love it. Do you take any opportunity to sign your autograph, by the way?"

"Yes, I do, that's exactly right."

As Mike signed his name, Christine headed toward the hallway with a bag of bathroom supplies. "We can get going in a second, I just need to put these away."

Now alone, Mike began inspecting the apartment, nosey. In the living room, he found a framed photograph of Christine and Josh as kids.

"Is this you and Josh here at a basketball game?"

"Yes," Christine said from the bathroom. "Don't look at those. Most of them are from when I was like fourteen and in my terrible awkward stage."

"More awkward than purple hair?"

"Ha ha."

Mike found another photo. It showed a large family gathering at Thanksgiving dinner. On the left side of the photo, Christine stood next to a tall, handsome young man, who was smiling with his arm around her.

"Oooh," Mike said eagerly. "Who's this McConaughey look-a-like in the UCLA shirt?"

"That's John. Do you think you can you give me a ride to the firehouse when we leave, by the way?"

"Sure." Mike saw another photo of Christine. She was sitting next to the same young man at a summer barbeque. "What's this guy, your boyfriend or something?"

"He was."

Christine walked back into the living room. Mike turned to her with a grin.

"Let me guess: you thought you were gonna marry this guy, and then he dumped you and left you for some other girl, and that's why you are so bitter about men?"

A silence passed.

"Come on," Christine said, walking toward the door. "I'm supposed to be meeting with Karrie to do some more tests."

Mike put the photo down. "That's exactly what happened, isn't it?"

Christine opened the door. "Come on. Karrie's waiting for me."

"Okay."

Christine walked out of the apartment and Mike watched her go. He stood in the living room, shaking his head, angry at his big mouth.

"Why do I even talk sometimes?" he grumbled.

Ten minutes later, driving through New York City, Christine and Mike sat in silence.

"Hey," Mike said after a moment. "I'm really sorry for saying that back there. That was really stupid."

"It's okay. You didn't know."

"No, it was..." Mike thought it over. "I say dumb things. A lot. I pretty much say anything just to fill the air with my words."

Christine chuckled. "I've noticed."

"But, it's okay, because tonight I am gonna cook dinner for you."

Christine laughed again. "You are?"

"Yeah, to make up for being such an idiot. Plus, I'm a great cook, as well as a great Ghostbuster."

Christine shook her head. "That's okay, Mike. You don't have to do that."

"No, I want to. Let's hang out for once outside of the firehouse. As friends. How about it? Have dinner with me."

Christine thought it over. "Okay. As friends."

"Sure, friends it is. What's your favorite, I'll cook your favorite? As long as it's chicken parmigiana or chicken parmigiana, 'cuz that's the only thing I can cook."

Christine laughed as Mike turned Ecto-1 into the firehouse's open doors.

That night, just two hours later, over two dozen members of the New York City press were standing in the main briefing room of City Hall, ready for a press conference. In a small area behind the briefing room, Evil Peter adjusted his tie in a mirror, while Evil Dana stood behind him, looking out between a set of curtains at the crowd waiting outside.

"All of their media is here, Master," Evil Dana said. "The entire city will see this. The entire _world_ will see this."

"Perfect," Evil Peter replied. "Because I want every last person to know who it is that unleashed this on them. I am awfully proud of it. Especially of this magnificent creature right here."

Evil Peter turned to his right. Walt was standing there—except he was no longer Walt: his face was now as white as snow, and completely devoid of emotion. His eyes were pure black, like marbles, and he was dressed in a pitch-black hooded robe with a gold rope belt around his waist. Both his robe and his pure white skin glittered from the light in the room.

"Are you ready to take care of those Ghostbusters for me?" Evil Peter asked Walt.

Meanwhile, at the firehouse, Karanna picked up the phone at the receptionist desk.

"Okay, I'm gonna order the Chinese. Where is everybody?"

Josh and Jessica were nearby, watching TV in Mike's office.

"Oscar went out on a call," Josh explained, "and Mike is out on a date."

"With who?" Karanna asked.

"My sister."

The two girls were shocked.

"He is?" Karanna asked.

"She is?" Jessica asked.

In Mike, Oscar, and Karanna's apartment—which had barely been used since they became Ghostbusters—Mike stood in the kitchen, simmering chicken in a pan. Nearby, there was a candle-lit table, with a vase of roses sitting in the middle.

Christine knocked on the door and stepped inside.

"Oh, Mike. You didn't have to do all this."

"This?" Mike replied. "Oh, this is how I eat dinner every night. That's how sensitive I am."

Christine sat at the table, smiling and surprised, although a little uncomfortable with the romantic mood.

"There's a menu, you know," Mike said.

Christine spotted a menu in front of her. She picked it up and opened it.

There was only one thing listed over and over:

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA.

Christine laughed, shaking her head. Mike watched her with a smile. He noticed that she had gotten a little dressed up for the dinner, which he took as a small victory.

"You look terrific, by the way," he said. "Especially for someone who is possessed."

"Only half-possessed," Christine corrected him. "You look nice, too. Especially out of that slime-covered jumpsuit."

"Really? Most people like the jumpsuit."

Mike turned to her and poured them each a glass of wine. Sitting down, he offered Christine a toast, and they clinked their glasses together.

"I did good, huh?" he said with a grin.

Christine smiled and nodded. "Yes, very good. This is really nice, Mike. Thank you. I...this is great."

Mike nodded back. "I thought you might have needed a night like this. See—not all guys are jerks. In fact, most of us aren't."

Christine shot him a look.

"Okay, it's more like seventy-thirty," Mike admitted. "But that's still pretty good."

Christine laughed as Mike stood and returned to cooking the chicken, pasta, and tomato sauce on the stove.

In City Hall's main briefing room, the honorable Mayor Peter Venkman finally took his spot behind the podium at the front of the room. The crowd of reporters quickly quieted down as Evil Peter—who was currently in his normal human form—pulled the microphone down to his mouth. On either side of him, there stood Evil Dana and his assistant Jack.

"Okay," Evil Peter said. "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for coming. I know there are a lot of rumors about why I called this late-night press conference, and most of them are about me shutting down the new Ghostbusters. That is not true. I also heard that I was going to be announcing that my wife Dana is pregnant. That's definitely not true."

Evil Peter turned to Evil Dana with a smile as the crowd chuckled.

"No," Evil Peter said, "the reason I called you here is to tell you that I am not Peter Venkman, and I haven't been for some time."

The crowd looked at each other, confused.

Evil Peter leaned into the microphone. "My name is Breygron the Watcher, and I am here to destroy you all."

The crowd stood up straight, suddenly startled, and murmuring to each other.

Evil Peter smiled. "It's just a shame you won't be awake to see it."

Walt—with his face pure white and his body covered in the black, glittering robe—floated up from behind Evil Peter and hovered over the podium. As the reporters gasped, the pale-skinned, black-eyed Walt—now known as the Sandman—floated out over the crowd, glided up near the ceiling, and began sprinkling dust down from the sleeves of his cloak. As the glittering dust drifted over the reporters and photographers, they suddenly fell asleep, dropping to the floor in a collective heap with a _THUD!_

"Okay, folks," Evil Peter said, looking over the sleeping mass of people. "Let's get to work. The battleground is almost ready."


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

In Mike, Oscar, and Karanna's apartment, Mike and Christine were sitting at the table and enjoying their dinner.

"So what do you think," Mike said. "Can I cook or what?"

"Yes, you can, I'm impressed. It's really good, I think maybe you should cook for everyone at the—"

Christine looked up. She saw something flutter in the window over Mike's shoulder.

The Sandman was looking into the apartment.

Christine gasped. Across from her, Mike twirled some linguine on his fork.

"Ya know, I have a funny story about linguine. One time when I was like six years old—"

Christine grew woozy and then fell forward, her head hitting the table. Startled, Mike sat up and looked at her. She was lying on the side of her plate, eyes closed and fast asleep.

"Geez," Mike said. "Guess I told too many 'when I was a kid' stories on this date."

Mike turned to the window. He saw something black fly by.

"What the hell…?"

Mike stood and walked to the window. Outside, high above the buildings, he could see the Sandman flying over New York City in the night. Glittering dust was drifting behind his arms as he flew, and—like falling snow—it was drifting over the city.

Then, Mike's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his knees buckled. He dropped to the floor of his apartment, asleep.

In the science lab of the firehouse, Karanna was making yet another set of adjustments to the Tesla Converter. Then, from the ceiling, a small cloud of glittering dust fell over her, covering her arms and the top of her head. Raising her hand to her face, she inspected the dust, confused, and then slumped down into her chair with a groan, her eyes fluttering shut.

Nearby, on a couch, Josh was eating Chinese food and watching TV. Onscreen, he could see Evil Peter's press conference, still being filmed as all the cameramen were asleep.

"Hey Karrie," Josh said, chomping away. "Isn't that Oscar's…."

Before he could finish, the sparkling dust fell on Josh from above. With his head wobbly, he tried to stay awake.

"Why do I feel so….asleep?"

Falling over, Josh rested his head on a pillow, with his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open.

Meanwhile, in the basement of the firehouse, Jessica was inspecting the containment unit and taking notes in a small notebook. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice the cloud of sparkling dust drift down the stairs. As she looked at the readings of the containment unit, the cloud whipped up and enveloped her, wrapping itself around her. Trying to keep her eyes open, suddenly very tired, Jessica had no choice but to give into her exhaustion, and she fell to the floor of the basement, breathing deeply and already dreaming.

Just over seven miles away from Ghostbusters HQ, Oscar leaned over and picked up a smoking ghost trap from the linoleum floor of an apartment. The kitchen around Oscar was in rough shape, with the walls lined with burnt streaks, the refrigerator smoking, and a small fire crackling in the microwave. A woman in a housecoat and hair rollers stood next to Oscar, relieved that the ghost was gone but still a little afraid.

"Okay, ma'am," Oscar said, making sure the red light was blinking. "This guy won't give you any more trouble. Your landlord should cover the entrapment fee, just have him fill out—"

The woman suddenly collapsed, falling to the floor with a _THUD_!

Oscar turned around, holding a slip of paper from his pocket. "...this form," he finished.

Oscar looked down at the sleeping woman. Then, taking three steps to his right, he peered into the apartment's living room.

The woman's husband—a balding, overweight man named Howard—was sleeping on the couch, his mouth hanging open and his remote still in his hand. The couple's dog, a friendly golden retriever, was asleep on the floor next to him. On the TV across from the man was a breaking news broadcast. The reporter was asleep on her news desk.

Oscar thought it over. Everything was suddenly quiet. Slowly, he walked out of the apartment and into the elevator.

Ten seconds later, Oscar pushed open the door of the lobby and stepped outside into the street. He looked around.

Dozens of people lined the sidewalk, sleeping on the ground. Many of them had grocery and shopping bags lying next to them. Many businessmen in their suits were sleeping on their backs, with their cell phones still in their hands.

Oscar looked up and down the street. Cars were either stopped in the middle of the road, or crashed into the sides of buildings and traffic lights. The night was silent, save for the sounds of honking car alarms and running water from a broken fire hydrant, stuck underneath a tour bus. Windows all around the city block were lit, but no people could be seen inside them.

Oscar looked around in shock. The city was completely still. Every single person in New York City was asleep.

Everyone, that is, except Oscar Venkman.

In the City Hall briefing room, Evil Peter, Evil Dana, and their dozen assistants looked over the space. All eighty-eight members of the New York City press were sleeping on the floor, laying in crumpled heaps, with their legs and arms draped over each other. Notebooks, tape recorders, and cameras were also strewn about the room.

"It worked, Master," Evil Dana said. "No one can stop us now."

"Yes," Evil Peter replied with a smile. "As the city sleeps, the first battle in the Tournament of the Demons will begin. And I know exactly who will be the first contestant."

Evil Peter thought it over with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together. "This is gonna be good. This is gonna be _so_ good."

Oscar ran through the streets of mid-town Manhattan, with the only sounds he could hear being his boots pounding the pavement and his breath nervously huffing and puffing. As he ran, he looked up and down the buildings along the sidewalk for any sign of life. But everyone was asleep. There were no people walking in and out of buildings, all cars were at a dead stop, and the only people he did see were either sleeping on the ground or passed out at the wheels of their vehicles.

Then, Oscar heard a noise.

_THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. _

It traveled up from the street and into his boots. Oscar stopped running, confused, trying to catch his breath. He heard—and felt—the noise again. It was deep, loud, and shook the very earth of New York City.

_THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. _

Oscar turned around. Looking toward the buildings in the northern section of mid-town, he saw something.

In the silent night, a giant figure walked through the shadows of the city. Oscar could just barely glimpse the figure through the tops of the buildings, about ten blocks away.

The being's footsteps were still thumping against the earth, and they seemed to be getting closer. With each step, Oscar's entire body vibrated.

Finally, the figure turned the corner, and Oscar saw what it was.

It was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Oscar stared up at the beast in shock, standing in the middle of the road. Just as he had always heard, Stay Puft was over 100 feet tall, wearing a sailor's bib and sailor's hat, and completely made out of white marshmallow. He was also incredibly fat and round, and his face was adorable, with big eyes and a little smile across his face. Oddly—and terrifyingly—this happy smile stayed on his face as he began stepping on cars, ripping the billboards off the sides of buildings, and pounding the pavement with his massive, white feet.

For a brief moment, Oscar and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man were the only conscious beings in the dark city of New York.

But, this was only for a moment.

Oscar jumped, in shock, as another giant beast appeared from the eastern end of the city. It was a 70-foot-tall, massive, brown-furred ape, with a horn growing from the center of its head, spikes running down its back, and fangs hanging from its mouth. This monster—who Oscar knew from his Paranormal Studies class was an ancient demon from 2600 B.C. named Rodgeneri—was running through the streets in a fury, its mouth snarled, its eyes narrowed, and its throat emitting a deep growl. As its feet smashed against the ground, it was pumping its arms and heading straight for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

But Stay Puft was ready. He turned toward the ape-beast, with his smile suddenly turning into an angry grimace. His forehead furrowed, he raised his fists, and he let out an angry, bellowing, window-shaking battle cry.

Rodgeneri reached Stay Puft and attacked, landing a swinging uppercut to Stay Puft's chin. Stay Puft's head snapped back and he stumbled on his feet, but he quickly recovered, shaking off the blow. With a furious roar, Stay Puft reared his fist back and landed a punch of his own, sending Rodgeneri falling backward. Trying to regain his bearings, the ape-monster tripped and fell onto the pavement.

In shock, from only a few blocks away, Oscar watched the two titans do battle. Every instinct he had told him to run—to get as far away as possible—but he was too frightened. Instead, he stood there, paralyzed, looking across the city with wide eyes at the first battle of the Tournament of the Demons.

Finally, after grappling with each other like wrestlers and exchanging blows in the middle of the street, Rodgeneri grabbed Stay Puft's arm with two hands and took a huge bite out of his sticky, white bicep.

That was it. Stay Puft had had enough. No more playing around.

With a growl from deep within his belly, Stay Puft leaned back, then brought his arm roaring forward, with all of his massive weight behind it. His coiled fist smashed against Rodgeneri's jaw in the most brutal right hook known to history, and Rodgeneri was immediately knocked out cold. With his arms limp, he fell like dead weight, and crashed to the street with a gigantic _BOOM! _He lay there, his mouth hanging open, his body unmoving, officially eliminated from the Tournament of the Demons.

Rodgeneri was no match for Stay Puft. Victorious, the 100-foot-tall marshmallow man looked to the sky, beating his chest and howling into the night, letting all challengers know who was the monster to beat in the contest to destroy the Earth.

Then, suddenly, Stay Puft's head snapped downward. His eyes locked onto an area about ten blocks away. He was now aware of another presence watching him.

Stay Puft's eyes were now pinned on Oscar.

"Oh, shit," Oscar said, snapping out of it.

Oscar turned and ran through the street, sprinting faster than he ever did in his life, regardless of his heavy Ghostbusting gear. Scanning the alleyways and doorways, he desperately looked for a place to hide.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..."

Turning, Oscar watched as Stay Puft lowered his head and stampeded, barreling down the middle of the street and heading directly toward him. His face was squished up angrily and he was more furious than ever. The monster was not happy to see that a puny human had been watching his battle.

Tripping over a pothole, Oscar tumbled to the road, and then crawled on his hands and knees to hide behind a car. Pressing his back against the metal, he grabbed the walkie-talkie from his belt.

"Mike!" he yelled. "Karrie! Anyone! Help!"

But there was no answer. Oscar was alone in the dead, still night of New York City, with the only sound being Stay Puft's giant footsteps crunching the earth. Realizing the monster had slowed down, Oscar peered over the hood of the car.

Stay Puft was now walking down the street, his eyes cast downward and looking from side-to-side, searching for Oscar. Leaning over, the 100-foot-marshmallow man gripped an eighteen-wheeler like it was a candy bar and popped it into his mouth, chomping down on it with a _CRUNCH! _Gasoline sprayed from the body of the truck and dribbled down Stay Puft's chin.

More terrified than ever, Oscar jumped up and ran down an alleyway. He only took a few steps before he reached an abandoned, condemned apartment building, so he sprinted into its open door.

Inside the building, Oscar dashed and leapt over various pieces of torn furniture and broken wooden chairs. It was pitch-black in the abandoned building, and Oscar could barely see where he was running. He was just trying to make his way as far away from the street as he could. Seeing a set of stairs in the moonlight, Oscar made his way there. He didn't know why running up the stairs would be a good idea, but he couldn't think straight—he couldn't think of anything other than getting away from the footsteps of the Marshmallow Man.

Then, as he was running up the stairs, Oscar realized the monster's footsteps had stopped. Perhaps the 100-foot-tall monster had walked passed the building. Oscar leaned his back near a window, listening.

Suddenly Stay Puft's fist came crashing through the wall directly on the side of Oscar, exploding the wall in a hail of bricks and broken glass. With a scream, Oscar ducked and covered himself from the debris, then looked up at a nearby window. Stay Puft's face was looking into it.

"Rrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaarrrrggghh!" the monster roared.

Oscar leapt and ran up the stairs. Soon, he reached the top floor of the apartment building and dashed onto the roof. From the top of the building, he could see Stay Puft still looking into the side of the building, searching for him.

But Oscar knew this wouldn't last long. Dashing to the edge of the rooftop, he looked around, and then down into an alleyway. There was a dumpster there, full of trash. It was Oscar's only hope for escape.

Without giving it much thought—besides the thought that he was jumping to save his life—Oscar leapt off the building and crashed into the dumpster. Popping up, he poked his head out the top, with a banana peel draped over his forehead.

After catching his bearings, Oscar realized he could hear Stay Puft's footsteps, but they were growing quieter. It seemed the monster was walking away.

Silently, Oscar climbed out of the bin and stepped onto the street. Stay Puft had given up his search, and was now walking in the opposite direction, every once in a while peering into other buildings' windows.

Watching Stay Puft walk away, Oscar realized that, even though he was safe, the monster was still on the loose. The giant beast was free to walk through any section of New York City that he wanted, wreaking all the havoc and destruction that he desired. With almost everybody else sleeping, the monster could destroy the entire city.

Oscar had to do something. He couldn't let Stay Puft escape and roam free through New York.

Oscar stepped forward and stood in the middle of the road.

"Please let this be the right decision," he said to himself.

Then, cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out to Stay Puft.

"Hey, Mr. Stay Puft! Over here!"

Stay Puft turned around with a grunt.

"Come eat me please!" Oscar shouted.

Lowering his head, Stay Puft roared and charged, his white arms pumping and his massive body careening down the middle of the road.

Oscar turned and ran, screaming for his life.

"It was the wrong decision!" he yelled, feeling the thundering footsteps pounding the earth behind him.

Finally, Oscar turned the corner and saw his destination. He knew he wasn't far away, and thankfully, there it was—the Ghostbusters firehouse. Sprinting toward it, he quickly flung open the door and dashed inside.

Just as Oscar disappeared into the firehouse, Stay Puft turned the corner, huffing and puffing. As the monster looked down the street, Ecto-1 burst through the closed double doors of the firehouse, sending wooden chunks and splinters flying. Spinning with a screech of rubber, the vehicle then turned and stopped, facing Stay Puft. The marshmallow man saw the vehicle and grew angry, quickly stomping toward it.

Jumping out of Ecto-1, Oscar climbed onto the ambulance's roof. He found a large proton cannon there, strapped to the top of the vehicle. The weapon looked similar to the Ghostbusters' proton guns, except it was oversized—it was so big, in fact, that the weapon had to be manned while sitting in a chair bolted behind it.

Strapping himself into the chair, Oscar manned the proton cannon and aimed it towards Stay Puft.

"Will this work on a giant demigod from another dimension?" he asked himself. "We're about to find out."

As Stay Puft stomped closer, Oscar gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger of the proton cannon. A large, wide blast of orange, red, and blue energy blasted out of it, rushed through the air, and smashed into Stay Puft's chest. The monster roared with fury, his white hide immediately set ablaze.

Still, the monster was stomping toward Ecto-1, and barely slowing down. As he closed his eyes and turned away, Oscar kept his finger jammed on the cannon's trigger, holding onto the violently vibrating gun as tightly as he could, doing his best to keep the giant proton stream toward Stay Puft.

Finally, when Stay Puft was only two dozen feet away, Oscar looked forward. The only thing he could see was white marshmallow flying, smoke rising, and proton energy whipping from the gun. After a few moments, Oscar realized he couldn't see Stay Puft's giant body through all the sticky, fiery chaos. Confused, he let go of the proton cannon's trigger.

Once the smoke cleared, Oscar saw Stay Puft, standing in the middle of the street. He was surrounded by around two hundred tons of marshmallow, and now only about two feet tall.

The proton cannon had worked. Stay Puft had been roasted, blasted, and shrunk down to the size of a toddler.

Shocked, Oscar slammed his foot down onto a pedal on the roof of Ecto-1. A large, flat ghost trap the width of the vehicle shot out from underneath the ambulance, slid across the street, and opened up right underneath Stay Puft. A blinding cone of light then burst up from the trap, but it was so bright that Oscar had to turn away, and because of this he didn't notice little Stay Puft escape the light, run into the city, and dash around the corner of a dark street.

Behind the gun of the proton cannon, Oscar opened his eyes and slumped down into his seat, exhausted. To his right, he saw someone walk out through the broken firehouse door. It was Josh. Careful to step out around a mound of white goo over seven feet high, Josh walked into the street. Oscar, Ecto-1, and nearly the entire city block were covered in white, sticky, warm marshmallow.

Still tired from the Sandman's dust, Josh yawned and looked toward Ecto-1.

"What was all that noise?"

"I think I just caught the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man," Oscar replied.

"Oh."

A moment passed. Then, with another yawn, Josh reached down, grabbed a handful of marshmallow from the sidewalk, and stuffed it into his mouth. Chewing, he headed back into the firehouse.

Oscar ran through the Ghostbusters headquarters, banging a metal pot with a spoon, knocking over chairs, and making as much noise as he possibly could.

"Let's go, everybody!" he shouted. He dashed by the science lab table and shook Karanna by her shoulders. "Wake up! Come on, everybody! Wake up! Wake up!"

Karanna lifted her head off the table. "What...? Was I asleep?"

"Yes, everyone in the damn city is asleep!" Oscar replied. "Come on, wake up, wake up! Where's Jessica?"

Josh followed Oscar through the firehouse. "What's going on, Oscar?"

Oscar looked to a TV in the corner.

"I don't know. But it's bad. Really, really bad."

Onscreen, Oscar could see a breaking news story, cutting into the regular programming. The broadcast was showing footage of Evil Peter's press conference. As Oscar, Karanna, and Josh watched, all of the reporters in the room dropped to the floor, asleep and unmoving.

Outside City Hall, Evil Peter, Evil Dana, the Sandman, and a dozen of Peter's assistants stood in front of the building's front steps. As Peter and Dana closed their eyes and held hands, the skies above the area darkened. Dark clouds swirled, and a growling came from above, bringing with it snaps of lightning and booming thunderclaps.

With his eyes glowing bright white, the Sandman then floated up into the air. Hovering, he pointed at City Hall, and within moments, the historic building turned into a dark, warped version of itself: its white stone exterior turned black, the columns near its entrance turned twisted and covered in spikes, and a slimy, green, moss-like substance grew over its exterior in patches.

Once Evil Peter and Evil Dana opened their eyes, they looked toward the building and smiled. Instantly, the entire front façade was turned into a massive, wide, rectangular spirit doorway, and immediately spirits, ghosts, demons, and monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors began pouring out of it.

Evil Peter looked into the sky and held out his arms.

The Tournament of the Demons was now in full swing.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

With dark swirling skies outside the firehouse windows, and the sounds of ghosts howling, demons screeching, and thunderbolts erupting in the night, Oscar, Mike, Karanna, and Jessica sat in front of a computer in the firehouse science lab.

"Here's what we know," Karanna said, manning the keyboard. "Peter Venkman has been inhabited by a demonic spirit known as Breygron the Watcher, the leader of a cult called the Breygron Clan. This is his true form."

An image appeared on the monitor: it showed a hideous, seven-foot-tall demon, with the face and body of a skeleton. The creature had no skin or muscle to speak of—it was simply made from pure, white bone. Its eyes were large and sinister, hollowed out, and there were two large horns growing from the sides of its head. Its body was covered in twisted, steel battle armor, which was adorned with spikes and metal studs.

"Eeesh," Mike said. "Somebody needs a sandwich."

"Breygron sees Earth as a battleground," Karanna explained. "A place where the demons and ghosts of the Spirit World can come and have the ultimate war, with the winner receiving Earth to do with as they please."

"The first fight just went down right in front of me," Oscar said, "so that means other beings are probably already here, battling for the city."

Karanna turned to the others. "We need to put aside any reservations about who it is we are facing here, and remember that it is not Dr. Venkman. Breygron is simply using his body as a shell. We need to get that thing out of him, and find a way to stop it. Are we ready? We don't have much time."

"Let's go," Oscar said, staring at the image of Breygron onscreen. "We have to save New York."

Two minutes later, on the first floor of the firehouse, Ecto-1 was started up and ready to go. Karanna waited in the front passenger's seat while Oscar and Mike strapped on their proton packs.

"Guys, I really think I should go with you," Jessica said, standing near Ecto-1. "You'll need all the help you can get."

"No, Jess," Oscar said. "Stay here in case anything happens. We might not be…we're gonna need you here, if this doesn't go the way we want it to."

"But I've been practicing with one of the spare proton packs, and you need—"

Mike hopped in the driver's seat. "Jess, I'm sorry. It's too dangerous. Stay here and keep Josh and Christine safe. Okay?"

Jessica looked around the firehouse. "Hey...where are Josh and Christine? I thought you said Christine came back with you, Mike?"

Mike thought it over. He hadn't seen Christine since they got back. "Shit. C'mon, guys. We gotta move."

Mike put Ecto-1 in reverse, slammed on the gas, and sped out onto the street.

However, what the Ghostbusters didn't know was that Josh and Christine were already miles away, walking toward City Hall in a trance, their eyes glowing and their faces emotionless. In front of the building, sitting in a golden throne, Evil Peter waited for them. He had a smile across his face.

As Oscar, Mike, and Karanna drove through Manhattan, they looked out the windows in shock. Underneath the dark sky, demons and ghosts of all sorts were doing battle, throwing each other across the city, grappling with each other on the sidewalk, and exchanging blows and claw-swipes as they flew threw the air. New York City was a warzone, filled with death matches between ghosts, demons, demigods, goblins, gremlins, and spirits.

"Oh my god," Mike said. From the driver's seat, he watched as a pitch-black, fiery-eyed, rabid unicorn clashed horns with a muscular, brown-furred, two-headed ram, which was wielding a sword made from orange flames. "This is insane."

Next to Mike, Karanna pressed buttons on a calculator. She grew concerned.

"I just want to tell you guys that I love you," she said.

"What?" Oscar asked.

"I don't think this is really the time for that, Karrie," Mike replied.

Karanna didn't look at them. "Using the PKE readings in the air, I just calculated the chances of the world surviving until tomorrow. It's six hundred million seven hundred thousand 439 to one."

A moment passed.

"Okay," Mike said. "So maybe it is the time for that."

"Maybe we should all get things off our chest," Oscar suggested. "Stuff we've always wanted to admit. Since it's the End of the World."

The group thought it over.

"I just want to thank you guys," Oscar said. "The last three weeks have been awesome. I've had the time of my life. I'm really thankful we all got to do this."

Mike nodded. "No problem, bro. And thanks for convincing me to do this terrifying, insane job. I really appreciate it."

"I have a reoccurring dream where we are all babies," Karanna said.

Oscar and Mike burst out laughing.

"What?" Oscar asked.

"I have a dream where we are all babies," Karanna said. "It's our heads, but on the bodies of babies. I don't know. We all live together in this nursery, and there's a nanny that takes care of us and changes our diapers. I think it's because I'm worried we are all stuck in a state of permanent adolescence, and we—"

Mike slammed on the brakes. After the vehicle skidded forward, Oscar and Karanna looked up.

Evil Peter was standing in the middle of the street, waiting for them. He looked toward Ecto-1 with a smile, his body and face now halfway between his disguise as Peter and his demonic form—his eyes were glowing, his hair was wild, and his expensive suit was sending up wisps of smoke.

"Hello, Mike," he said. "Hello, Karanna. Hello, son. Dear old dad would like a word with you."

The Ghostbusters stepped out of Ecto-1. They removed their proton guns from their backs and held them at the ready. They looked to Evil Peter, nervous, but prepared to take action.

"I'm so glad you made it in time for the next battle," Evil Peter said, clasping his hands together. "I saved you a front row seat."

"You know," Mike said. "It's guys like you who give wrestling fans a bad name."

"All right, remember," Oscar said, his hand on his proton gun's trigger. "That's my step-dad's body. Slime him and get that thing out of him. Then we'll take it from there."

Oscar, Mike, and Karanna changed the settings on their proton guns, aimed their weapons, and sprayed Evil Peter with green slime. But, instead of covering him, the slime flew right threw his body, as if he wasn't there, and landed on the pavement behind him.

"What the hell?" Mike said, letting go of his trigger.

"Wow," Evil Peter said, clutching his chest and wincing, as if he was in pain. "Oh. That really hurt. Oooh, you got me there. Ouch."

"That's not Peter," Karanna said, surprised. "He just took Peter's form."

"You hadn't figured that out yet?" Evil Peter asked. "And here I thought you were the smart one." He shook his head, laughing. "Like that flesh and bone vessel would be strong enough to hold me."

Leaning back, Evil Peter looked to the sky and held out his arms. Slowly, he transformed, starting from his toes and running up to his head. Within a matter of moments, Evil Peter was gone, and he was no longer human—he was now Breygron the Watcher, a seven-foot-tall demon with a fleshless body, a horned skull head, a wide, fang-filled mouth, hollow eyes, and arms that were each tipped with a set of two-foot-long claws, as sharp as glass. The skull-headed monster looked down on the Ghostbusters, moving his claws back and forth and breathing through his teeth.

The Ghostbusters stared at Breygron, in shock.

"No offense, Osco," Mike said, "but I think I wish it actually was your step-dad."

"Me too," Oscar replied, "but it's not, so one, two, three, roast it!"

The Ghostbusters pulled the triggers of their proton guns in unison and blasted Breygron with zapping proton beams. The orange and blue streams seemed to have an effect on Breygron, as he snarled and growled, but at most, they just seemed to aggravate him. Raising his boned foot into the air, he brought it down and smashed the pavement, sending a shockwave of blue energy rushing toward the Ghostbusters. The snapping energy hit the three friends and sent them flying backwards, tumbling through the air before they skidded across the street.

The group crawled behind a car and hid there, their jumpsuits smoking and burnt.

"Our equipment was never meant for something this powerful," Karanna said.

"Ya think?" Mike replied, holding his arm and wincing.

Oscar looked to the sky behind Breygron. "Oh, no."

Above Breygron, only a few feet in front of the entrance to City Hall, Christine and Josh floated in the sky, their arms limp at their sides. Their bodies looked more transformed than ever, with each of their bodies glowing with a golden light and their eyes pure white. As they raised their arms, a spirit doorway formed in between them, over ten feet tall, purple, and swirling with violent energy.

Stepping toward his golden throne, Breygron sat down and turned toward the spirit doorway. "Let the next battle for Earth begin!"

Two beings—a fifteen-foot-tall, vicious praying mantis, and a cloaked wizard, whose body was made out of yellow, glowing smoke—emerged form the gateway in the sky. The beings immediately began fighting one another, with the mantis screeching and swiping at the wizard, while the wizard fired blasts of yellow energy from his hands. Every time the energy blasts hit the mantis, they exploded in a deafening _BOOM!_ and burst of light.

Mike, Oscar, and Karanna watched the chaos from behind the car.

"I got my money on the bug," Mike said. "How about you guys?"

Meanwhile, inside the firehouse, Jessica sat in the science lab, frantically inspecting the Tesla Converter. The machine was still perplexing her, but she had to focus—she knew it was her only hope of helping Oscar, Mike, and Karanna.

After turning the machine on, Jessica leaned back, frustrated, and listened to its electronic hum. As it whirred away, with its black wires and metallic coils vibrating, she stared at it, thinking. Then, it hit her.

"Wait a second," she said. "The Tesla Converter doesn't open a Spirit Door. It just _powers_ the door."

After lugging the heavy Tesla Converter box down the basement stairs, Jessica dashed to the back wall and searched for something, shoving a metal cabinet out of her way.

Finally, she found it. Behind the cabinet of proton packs, there was a metal crate, over six feet tall and five feet wide. Grabbing a crow bar, Jessica used all her might to pry the crate open.

There it was. Standing in front of Jessica, glaring down at her, was the painting of Vigo the Carpathian, scourge of the 16th century.

Not far from City Hall, the Ghostbusters had moved closer to the battle between the praying mantis and the cloaked wizard. Crouching behind a series of trees—and avoiding the explosive blasts of lasers—they watched as the wizard flew into the air and raised both hands, sending a barrage of yellow energy down at the mantis. The bug screeched in fury, trying to rip the wizard from the sky, but it was no use—soon, the mantis was set aflame and disappeared into a burst of smoke.

Once the mantis was gone, Oscar jumped out and pointed his proton gun at the wizard.

"Now!" Oscar yelled.

Mike and Karanna joined Oscar, and all three of them fired their proton energy at the wizard. Swooping through the air, the wizard avoided the orange and blue beams, and then pointed at a car across from the Ghostbusters. When the wizard then held his hand out toward Mike, the car flew at them, tumbling threw the air. The three friends had to dive out of the way as the vehicle crashed into the trees, ripping down massive braches and hitting the ground with a metallic _CRUNCH!_

Scrambling to their feet, the Ghostbusters hid behind the body of a delivery truck.

"You know those times when you feel like you're accomplishing something?" Mike said, huffing and puffing. "This is not one of those times."

"We can't just keep fighting the winners of these matches," Karanna said. "We have to think of something out the box, we have to stop the—"

Breygron stood up from his throne, his voice bellowing through the night. "And the winner of the second main event battle is the wizard known as Sam Haim! He will now be challenged by...the Grendel!"

The Grendel appeared from the spirit gateway in the sky. It was a tall, hideous, lanky demon, with red eyes, grey skin, and a gaping mouth that hung open, nearly taking up its entire face. Once its clawed hooves hit the ground, it turned to the wizard, hissing and snapping its jaws.

"But first," Breygron said, "it seems our guests here are not content with just being mere viewers and can't help but get involved in the action. So, let's take care of them, shall we?"

Breygron walked to the truck where the Ghostbusters were hiding. Using his bare hands, he ripped the truck away and threw it across the block. The Ghostbusters were now exposed. Rising up into the air, all three demons—Breygron, Sam Haim, and the Grendel—focused on the Ghostbusters. At once, they attacked, with Sam Haim blasting Karanna with lasers from his hands, the Grendel dive-bombing Mike with his claws, and Breygron sending waves of destructive blue energy careening toward Oscar. The Ghostbusters were vastly overmatched, and all three of them quickly fell to the ground, defeated by their opponents. Lying on the pavement, Oscar screamed, Breygron's blue energy wrapping itself around his body.

"Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhh!"

In the basement of the Ghostbusters firehouse, Jessica finally finished hooking up the Tesla Converter to the Vigo painting by a series of long wires. Looking up at the painting, she nervously leaned down and turned the Tesla Converter on.

The machine whirred and hummed—snapping with little sparks of orange electricity—and soon the sparks traveled up the wires and into the painting. Within seconds, the orange energy spread across the painting, and the image of Vigo standing on a cliff disappeared, replaced with a swirling, purple, churning gateway, bursting with orange sparks. When the swirling inside the gateway stopped, Jessica could see another world—a barren abyss, filled with twisted mountains, deep chasms, and leafless trees, all set underneath a purple sky filled with electric storms.

Jessica stared at the spirit doorway in the golden frame of the Vigo painting. Very carefully, she stepped toward it. Reaching out, she stuck her hand into the gateway, and then leaned forward, allowing her entire head and shoulders to enter the painting. Soon, she was looking into an entirely new world.

"Hello?" she said, her voice echoing in the abyss. "Um, is anybody in here? Hello?"


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A few dozen feet from City Hall, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna lay on the sidewalk, beaten, their hands barely able to hold onto their proton guns. Their jumpsuits were smoking, their proton packs were about to overheat, and they could no longer even find the energy to stand.

Looming over the Ghostbusters, slowly moving closer, were the giant demons of Sam Haim, Breygron, and the Grendel.

"Well," Mike said, his face smeared with soot. "This is it, fellas. Everyone's gotta go sometime."

Lying near Mike, Oscar's face was bleeding from a scratch across his cheek. "I'm sorry you got involved with this, Mike. None of this woulda happened to you if you hadn't met us."

"Don't worry about it. How else would I have spent my last year of college? Partying, living it up? Nah, this is much better than that."

Karanna looked up, shielding her eyes. "Oh, god."

In the sky, Sam Haim, Breygron, and the Grendel had linked spiritual energies. With their arms outstretched, a long line of blue-and-purple-and-yellow energy was coursing between them, running back and forth like a river across their arms. As the demons looked down at their prey, the energy around them only grew stronger. With one last blast, the demons were getting ready to finally erase the Ghostbusters.

But then, Oscar heard something in the distance—the sound of a helicopter, its blades whirring. Oscar looked there, to the sky in the north side of the city. It was coming from the direction of the Ghostbusters headquarters. There, as he squinted, he saw a helicopter flying toward them.

It was a black, sleek helicopter, with the Ghostbusters logo painted on both of its doors. As the helicopter flew closer, Oscar, Mike, and Karanna watched, confused, as did Breygron, Sam Haim, and the Grendel.

Soon, the helicopter hovered over them, and as it did, a rope dropped from it. A figure then slid down the rope, and when the person's boots hit the pavement, the group saw that it was Jessica, wearing a brown jumpsuit and a proton pack. After unhooking herself from the rope, she turned to the three demons, her proton gun ready.

"Jessica?" Mike said.

"What in the world?" Karanna wondered.

"Is it weird that I'm really turned on right now?" Oscar asked.

Breygron was unimpressed.

"This is foolish," he said, his voice bellowing. "You really think one little girl is going to help you?"

"Oh, you must be mistaken," Jessica said. "I didn't come alone."

Four more ropes then dropped from the helicopter. It was Peter, Egon, Ray, and Winston. They were wearing their brown jumpsuits, proton packs, and all of their Ghostbusting gear.

The original Ghostbusters were here.

Ray stepped toward Breygron. "You, sir, have messed with the wrong scientists."

"Sending us to the Spirit World, keeping us there for weeks?" Peter said. "Torturing us? I bet the Matrix sequels were your fault, too, weren't they?"

Winston shook his head with a grin. "Basically, what they're trying to say is: dude...ya'll are screwed."

Egon was all business, staring at the three demons. "Proton streams on full thrust, now!"

The original Ghostbusters and Jessica blasted the demons with their proton guns. The evil creatures screamed in agony, surprised at the strength and focus of the original Ghostbusters. But still, the demons were able to fight back. Flailing their arms and swooping upwards, they quickly escaped the hold of the Ghostbusters' orange and blue proton streams.

"Uh, hey, new guys?" Peter said, struggling to keep his gun on the demons. "Laying on the street? We could use your help?"

The new Ghostbusters—who had been too enthralled with the action to realize they should lend a hand—jumped up. With their bodies still aching and their proton packs still nearly exhausted of energy, they stood near the original Ghostbusters and fired their guns at Sam Haim, Breygron, and the Grendel.

With the addition of the new Ghostbusters' proton energy, the combined forces of the two Ghostbusters teams was too much. Soon, the three spirits were fully wrapped in the proton streams, no longer able to escape. Following Egon, the group of eight Ghostbusters walked forward, keeping their guns pointed at the sky.

The group was pushing the three demons back into the floating, swirling Spirit Doorway. Sam Haim and the Grendel were easily disposed of, disappearing back where they came from with a flash of light, but Breygron still struggled to free himself and remain on Earth.

"No!" the skeletal demon shouted, clawing at the air. "No! My tournament is not finished! No! Nooooooo!"

But, it was no use. As the eight Ghostbusters stepped forward in unison, the giant demon was pushed forcefully into the Spirit Doorway. When he was gone—with a wave of white light erupting from the doorway—the gate to the other world closed, and finally the three spirits were gone.

Oscar ran to Peter and hugged him.

"Hey, Oscar, how are ya, pal?" Peter laughed. "What, you act like we've been locked in another horrible world for the past three weeks or something."

"Thank god you're here!" Oscar said. "Where's mom? Is she okay?"

Dana stepped out of the helicopter. She ran to Oscar and they embraced.

"Oscar, oh Oscar! What happened to you? Are you all right?" She looked over Oscar's Ghostbusting gear. "When did all this happen?"

"Well," Oscar replied. "It all started when the inter-dimensional demon with the skull head took Pete's place, posed as Mayor, and nearly destroyed the city."

Peter shook his head. "There goes my approval rating."

Winston surveyed the area. The section around City Hall was in rough shape, with trees burnt down, sides of buildings smoking, and cars overturned and destroyed. City Hall still looked like the warped version of itself, with twisted columns and green, slimy, moss patches all over it.

"So you helped saved the world," Winston said, "but basically burnt down City Hall in the process? At least the young Ghostbusters are taking after the old ones."

Nearby, Egon checked the reading on his PKE meter, concerned. A wind picked up, howling through the area. Mike stood next to Egon, looking up at City Hall.

"City Hall hasn't reverted back to its normal form yet. Mike, is there something we're missing?"

Mike pointed.

Josh and Christine were floating on either side of City Hall's main entrance, their bodies and eyes glowing.

"It's Josh and Christine!" Oscar yelled. "They're still possessed!"

"What are they doing?" Karanna asked.

At once, Josh and Christine raised their arms, holding them out horizontally. As they did, a gust of wind tore through the city like a cyclone, and the entire entrance to City Hall once again turned into a Spirit Doorway, this one bigger and more powerful than any before it. This time, the purple, twisting energy from the Spirit World began seeping out of the door and spreading into New York City. Everything the energy touched turned into a warped version of itself: the trees turned gnarled and leafless; the grass was replaced with sticky, mossy slime; and the cars and trucks in the area immediately rusted and hollowed out, as if they had been sitting in their spots for centuries.

"The portal is reopening!" Ray yelled. "The Spirit World is crossing over into this one!"

"Oh, shit..." Winston replied, watching the massive gateway in the entrance to City Hall.

Ghosts, spirits, and demons of all shapes and sizes emerged with flashes of light from the Spirit Gateway. Some of the ghouls flew out, with their arms outstretched and their mouths screeching, while the larger monsters, like a one-eyed giant made from stone, stomped down City Hall's steps. All of them began spreading into New York, swooping around buildings, dive-bombing the Ghostbusters, and wreaking havoc in the streets.

In the middle of City Hall's front façade, Breygron's horned, skull head appeared, floating in the Spirit Doorway.

"You have stopped my tournament, but you will not stop your extinction! Your world is mine, humans! Lay down and accept your fate!"

"To Ecto-2!" Egon shouted. "Everybody, now!"

The group ran and gathered behind the black helicopter, crouching together.

"We don't have enough manpower to take on these things," Egon explained. "The city is being taken over!"

"The _world_ is being taken over," Winston corrected him.

Ray reached into his pocket. He retrieved the five wooden demon totems from the firehouse.

"We need to bring these to Josh and Christine!" Ray said, holding out the totems.

"No," Oscar replied, "Josh said those things will bring us doom and death! We shouldn't even be touching them!"

Jessica shook her head. "It wasn't Josh that said that—it was the spirit _inside_ of Josh that said that! The spirit was afraid of the totems, not Josh!"

Ray held up one of the totems.

"These are imbued with positive spirit energy! The ghosts inside Josh and Christine, Breygron, all of them, came from these totems! They were trapped inside them for over 100 years!"

"Okay," Peter said, "so we put the ghosts back in the Jenga pieces and the gate closes. What are we waiting for?"

"It's not that easy," Egon said, shaking his head. "These totems are essentially traps that held Breygron and his clan for a century. If the totems were to enter the Spirit Doorway, they could once again trap Breygron, which would counteract his gateway and close it forever. But, to do that, we must bring the totems up there and step with them into the gateway, ensuring they make it into the other side. When the gate closes, whoever is holding these totems will not be coming back."

"Your plans always have such wonderful endings, Egon," Peter grumbled.

Ray held the totems out to the group in his outstretched palm. The new and old Ghostbusters looked to each other, thinking.

Winston took the first idol.

"I'll do it," he said.

"But Winston, your wife," Dana told him. "Your new grandson."

Winston shrugged, knowing it was his only choice. "Tell him I went down fighting."

Ray took the next idol. "No way I'm letting Z go alone. I'm going with him."

Peter stared at Ray's hand. "Then that settles it."

Peter reached out and took the final three idols.

"No, Pete!" Oscar yelled. He lunged forward to grab the idols from Peter's hand, but Dana pulled him back. She was already crying.

"I'm sorry," Peter said. "This world is gonna need new Ghostbusters. Egon has to be the one to stay here and train you guys."

"No!" Mike yelled. "We can't handle that! We pretty much suck at this, to be honest!"

Peter shook his head. "This is how it has to go. Ray, Z, and I will head up to the portal at City Hall. You others blast the area and clear us a way there."

A silence passed. Everyone looked at each other, thinking.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Ray said.

The new and old Ghostbusters stood and readied themselves, adjusting the settings on their proton guns.

Peter and Dana embraced, holding each other. She was crying.

"I'll be back, somehow," Peter said to her. "I promise."

She looked him in his eyes. "I'm not allowing myself to live without you. I'll find you. I'll never stop looking."

As Peter let go of Dana, he, Winston, and Ray ran toward City Hall. The dozens of ghosts and demons in the area swirled around them and attacked them, so, from a distance, Egon and the new Ghostbusters fought them off, firing their proton energy into the sky and clearing a safe route for Peter, Ray, and Winston to reach the spirit gateway.

Standing near the helicopter, Oscar watched as Peter, Ray, and Winston climbed City Hall's steps. He turned to Mike.

"I'm not letting it go down like this," Oscar said.

"Neither am I," Karanna agreed.

Mike looked ahead at the massive Spirit Doorway in City Hall. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go."

When Egon wasn't looking—too preoccupied with blasting a gigantic flying snake from the sky—Mike, Karanna, and Oscar ran toward City Hall. Jessica and Dana noticed them dashing away.

"Oscar!" Dana yelled.

"Damn it," Jessica said under her breath, before running after them.

At the top of City Hall's steps, Peter, Ray, and Winston stood in front of the giant Spirit Door. As the group stepped closer toward it, a blue, calming energy emanated from the wooden totems in their hands, and the Spirit Doorway began to get smaller, slowly closing in on itself.

"Sorry, old timers," Mike said. "You're gonna have to let the new guys take over."

Peter, Ray, and Winston turned to see Karanna, Oscar, Mike, and Jessica.

"No, Oscar!" Peter shouted. "Go back! Get away from here!"

"We're not gonna let you do this!" Oscar yelled over the noise of the swirling gateway. "It's our responsibility!"

Ray looked up. "It's too late! The Spirit Door is closing on us!"

The positive energy of the totems was too much—it was actually pulling the Spirit Door towards them, stretching out the swirling purple energy until it nearly touched them. Wind whipped around the steps of City Hall, and lightning bursts flashed in the sky.

Covering his face from the battering wind, Mike looked up. Christine and Josh—floating on either side of the Spirit Door—were reacting violently to the blue energy from the wooden totems. Their bodies were convulsing, their heads were shaking, and their spirit forms were flashing in and out, briefly revealing their human forms, with Josh's green skin disappearing and Christine's purple hair changing back to blonde. They were also slowly drifting back down towards the earth.

"Karrie!" Mike yelled. "Get Josh down from there!"

Karanna ran to Josh and helped him come to a soft landing. Meanwhile, Mike caught Christine, holding her in his arms, even though he himself could barely stand from the chaotic reaction of the energy from the totems meeting the energy of the Spirit Door. Nearly unconscious, Christine weakly opened her eyes and looked at Mike. He could see that she was terrified.

Back near Ecto-1, Dana and Egon watched the terrible scene from afar. Egon was running through a million different scenarios and calculations in his head. Suddenly, he thought of something.

"Dana, can you drive stick?"

"I think so," she replied, "not since I was a teenager."

Egon tossed her the keys to Ecto-1. "Get us over there."

As Dana sped Ecto-1 towards the entrance to City Hall, Egon was perched on its roof, carefully adjusting the settings to the giant proton cannon. Using wires and tubes, he was connecting three slime blower backpacks to the rear of the proton cannon. With Dana swerving to avoid ghosts and rubble in their way, the green slime in the tanks was sloshing and splashing.

"I'm not sure if there's an all-powerful, all-seeing being that watches over the universe," Egon said, holding onto the roof for dear life, "but if there is, please let this work."

At the top of the City Hall steps, the Spirit Door was now encroaching on the Ghostbusters, Josh, and Christine. It was shrinking down around them, ready to close. The wind, lightning, and explosive blasts of thunder were more intense than ever.

"It's closing!" Ray yelled. "It's pulling us in! Everyone brace yourselves!"

"Kids, you gotta get away from here!" Winston yelled. "Now!"

Reaching toward him, Peter grabbed Oscar's arm.

"Oscar, go! Now! Please! For me!"

"I can't, Dad! I can't let you guys do this!"

On the side of Oscar, Mike crouched on the ground, holding Christine in his arms. She was looking up at him, unaware of what was happening and very afraid.

Mike looked down at her and squeezed her hand.

"It's okay, Chris," he said. "Everything is going to be—"

_KA-ZAP!_ The blue energy of the wooden demon totems erupted, like lightning bursting up toward the Spirit Door. The ground shook and rumbled. The purple Spirit Doorway closed around the area, its energy surrounding everything near it. The bodies of the Ghostbusters and Josh and Christine began to fade away, disappearing into thin air as they were transported to the Spirit World. As Christine looked up at Mike, she watched as his face faded into blackness.

Finally, Dana reached the front steps of City Hall and slammed on Ecto-1's breaks. On the roof, Egon sat in the chair and pointed the proton cannon towards the building. When he pulled its trigger, hundreds of gallons of green slime burst from the cannon like a giant fire hose, drenching the entire front entrance to City Hall. As Egon held onto the shaking, overheating gun, with his teeth gritted and his knuckles white, everything was quickly covered in green slime—the black marble of the transformed City Hall, the Spirit Door, and the nine people huddled together on the front steps: the Ghostbusters, Josh, and Christine.

The gallons of green slime, the blue energy from the totems, and the purple energy of the Spirit Door reacted violently towards each other, with the wind picking up to hurricane speeds, the lightning flashes growing more rapid, and the Spirit Door suddenly growing larger. Moaning howls of spirits and demons could be heard from inside the expanding door, and as the slime from the proton cannon splashed against it, Egon watched, concerned. He may have made things worse.

But then…_KA-BOOM!_

The three counteracting energies reached their breaking point, and a massive explosion of white light erupted on the steps of City Hall. Egon was thrown off the roof of Ecto-1 by the blast, and when he hit the ground, he looked up at the building's front steps. Nothing could be seen, except a giant, humming cloud of orange light glowing where the Spirit Door once stood. The massive thunderclap from the explosion was still ringing in Egon's ears, and echoing through the city.

Inside Ecto-1, Dana was looking away from the explosion, nearly blinded by its intense flash of light. Then, with her eyes closed and her ears buzzing, she realized that all was quiet. Stunned, she turned towards City Hall.

The front of the building was nearly destroyed. Rubble was scattered across the pavement, smoke was rising from the dismantled stairway, and green slime covered the area. The Spirit Door—and the Ghostbusters—were nowhere to be seen. Slowly, as Dana watched, the remaining sections of City Hall reverted back to normal, no longer black, twisted, or covered in mossy patches. Behind Dana, the grass, trees, and anything else that had been transformed by the Spirit Door also reverted back to normal.

Terrified, Dana jumped out of Ecto-1, and she and Egon sprinted toward the demolished City Hall steps. Searching through the rubble and slime, they frantically looked for their friends.

"I found someone!" Egon called, moving a piece of marble out of his way.

It was Ray. He was covered in green slime and banged up, but he was at least able to stand with the help of Egon.

"Ray! Are you all right? Are you feeling okay?"

"Whoa," Ray said with stunned eyes. "Where are we, Egon? Is this the Spirit World?"

"No, this is New York City."

Ray looked around. The front of City Hall was destroyed, smoking, and covered in green slime.

"You sure?" Ray asked.

Dana looked to her right. Peter walked toward her, with Oscar leaning against him. Oscar was limping, and both of their faces were scratched and streaked with soot, but they looked okay.

"Oh thank god," Dana said. "Thank god..."

Dana ran to them and they embraced.

"See, honey?" Peter said. "I told you we'd be fine. Save for the deafening explosion and everything, that was a piece of cake." He turned to Oscar. "You have any idea how dangerous that was, pal?"

"Of course I do," Oscar replied. "I'm a Ghostbuster."

Peter turned to Dana.

"You sure I'm not this kid's real dad?"

Not far from Peter and Oscar, Mike slowly stood from the slime-covered rubble, still carrying Christine. She awoke, frightened, and pushed Mike away, unaware of where she was.

"Hey there, hey," Mike said. "Take it easy, Chris. You're with us now. It's okay."

Christine looked up. She saw that it was Mike looking back at her.

"Oh, great," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Mike replied. "I just saved your life, I just saved New York, I just saved the entire world, and that's how you react? Really, I thought by now you would—"

Christine reached up and covered Mike's mouth.

"Mike?" she said. "For once, stop talking, for a minute, and kiss me."

Christine grabbed Mike's face and pulled him down, kissing him. He was surprised at first, but then very happy, and kissed her back.

Next to Mike, Karanna appeared from the rubble. She was carrying Josh the same way Mike was carrying Christine, with Josh draped across her arms. Josh was back to his human form.

Struggling to hold up Josh's heavy body, Karanna looked down, grimacing. He looked back at her.

"My hero," he said woozily, a weak smile across his face.

Down City Hall's nearly destroyed steps, Egon and Ray walked toward Ecto-1, with Karanna and Jessica following them. The entire area around the vehicle was covered in green slime, including the proton cannon itself.

"What kind of audible was that you called there, Iggy?" Ray asked.

"A not-very-likely-to-succeed one," Egon replied. "I modified Ecto-1's proton stream to throw slime, hoping that its positive energy would—"

"Of course!" Jessica said. "The positively charged slime would act together with the totems' positive energy and help it neutralize the negative spirit energy of the doorway!"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Karanna wondered.  
>Running his hand over Ecto-1's hood, Ray looked over the vehicle. Thanks to its high-speed rescue mission, it was in bad shape, with two of its tires flat, its windshield cracked, its roof dented, and its now-exposed engine smoking and sizzling.<p>

"She's gonna need some big-time repairs," Ray said. "And it looks like the proton cannon is shot. It'll be a while before they can use it again."

Egon looked to him with a surprised grin. "Before _they_ can use it again?"

Ray smiled sadly, nodding. "Yeah, you're right, Egon. We are getting old. It's time for a new generation."

Ray looked toward Oscar, Karanna, Mike, and Jessica. They were gathered around City Hall's steps, their jumpsuits torn, burnt, streaked with soot, and covered in slime. Laughing, they were telling stories and recalling the last insane twenty minutes of their lives.

Ray looked back to Egon. "But can I at least help them out once in a while?"

A few feet in front of City Hall, Winston stood with his hands on his hips and looked over the area. The building behind him was nearly destroyed, green slime covered every inch of the ground, and the trees around him were either cracked in half or burnt to a crisp. But still, his friends—and the entire city of New York—were safe.

"Man," Winston said, a grin growing across his face. "I love being a Ghostbuster."

Laughing, Winston quickly walked to the others and joined in the celebration.

Now, and forever, New York City would be protected from any ghosts, goblins, demons, ghouls, monsters, poltergeists, sasquatches, or anything else that went bump in the night.

After all, the Ghostbusters were back.

And they were on call.

EPILOGUE

As the Ghostbusters celebrated their victory, and as the city of New York woke up and came out to thank them, everybody was too busy to notice the door of the black helicopter known as Ecto-2 slowly open and then shut. As the helicopter's blades turned on and the vehicle lifted off the ground, a green glow could be seen inside the cockpit, manning the controls…

Five thousand miles away, Louis Tully stood at the tiki bar of his lush Polynesian resort and waited for his drinks. Wearing an oversized Hawaiian shirt, he looked around with a smile. This was paradise—he was surrounded by palm trees, sandy beach, and waitresses wearing coconut bikinis. And, best of all, he had brought a whole stack of accounting work to keep him busy.

Turning around, the bartender handed Louis two tropical drinks, both of them outfitted with umbrellas and skewers of fruit.

"Thanks," Louis said, taking the drinks. "Hey, this one is made with diet vodka, right? I'm on this crazy workout program and I've been trying to watch my figure, so I've been—"

The bartender turned and waited on another customer, ignoring Louis.

"Okay, thanks," Louis said. "Talk to you later."

Holding his drinks, Louis walked away from the bar and toward his beach chairs, which looked over the gorgeous ocean.

"Here ya go, Janine," Louis said. "I got you extra pineapple, just like you like."

"Oh, thanks, sweetie," Janine replied. "But I already got a drink."

"You did?" Louis said, confused. "From who? Did someone bring you one? Was someone—aaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaahhhhh!"

Louis jumped back as he walked around Janine's beach chair. There were now two beach chairs on the side of Janine. Slimer sat in one of them, holding a massive frozen margarita, and in the other sat two-foot-tall Stay Puft, who was wearing sunglasses and soaking up the rays. His white hide was slightly toasted brown.

Slimer looked up at Louis with a smile. "Hi!" he garbled. "Sit down, sit down!"

Louis thought it over. Then he shrugged.

"Okay," he said. "But you're gonna have to get your own rooms."

As Louis sat down next to Janine, she looked at him over the top of her sunglasses. She was holding the margarita Slimer had bought for her.

"What can I say," she told her husband, "I'm a sucker for free drinks."

After clinking their glasses together for a toast, Louis and Janine shared a kiss, now joined on their vacation by two unexpected—and very bizarre—guests.

As a waiter walked by, Stay Puft called him over and took a giant punch bowl from his tray. After taking a big sip from the bowl (which was nearly as big as him,) he leaned back in his chair with a refreshed sigh.

"Aaaaah!" Stay Puft said. "This is the life."

_The end._


End file.
